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I Don’t Understand My Doctor
I Don’t Understand My Doctor!
Cindy Dubansky, MSW, LICSW C-ASWCM
And you do not ask questions because you are embarrassed to admit you do not understand or you believe you will not understand the answer anyway.
You are not alone. Nearly nine out of 10 adults have difficulty following routine medical advice, largely because it is often beyond the understanding of average people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This includes people in all categories of society, even those who speak English well and are highly educated.
Health literacy – the ability to find, process and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions – can impact a person’s health status more than any other factor, including education, income, employment or race.
Many factors can affect a person’s health literacy, including level of education, general ability to read, write and understand, ability to understand medical terminology, general ability to make decisions and solve problems, past experience with and understanding of the health care system, stress and other factors. Seniors in particular may experience changes in vision, hearing or memory and they may process information more slowly.
So what’s a person to do? There are many things you can do to improve your health literacy and take more control of your health.
Prepare for clinic visits.
Know why you are seeing the doctor. It may help to write down physical symptoms you are experiencing, thoughts or feelings that concern you, changes in lifestyle or functional ability, life cycle events such as death of a loved one or divorce or any other changes in your life situation.
Have a complete list of your medications, including the name of each medication, how much and how often you take it and why you take it (or bring them all to the clinic). Don’t forget over-the-counter medications, vitamins, herbals, medications kept in the refrigerator and anything else you take. They are all important!
Write down your questions and concerns. Be organized and make the best use of the limited time the doctor or nurse is with you -- Prioritize your questions so you can ask them in order of importance.
Tell the doctor or nurse why you are there. Having written information may give you more courage if you are nervous about speaking up.
The doctor or nurse cannot help you if you do not tell them what they need to know. Tell them your concerns, even if they are embarrassing.
Do not just say what you think the doctor wants to hear or what will make you sound like a “good patient.”
Ask questions! Ask the questions you wrote down. Ask questions about anything the doctor or nurse tells you, if necessary. There are no stupid questions when it comes to your health. If you do not understand the answer, ask for the information again in words you can understand. Your health care providers have an obligation to provide health information to you in a way you can understand.
It is always important to ask the following three questions (“Ask Me 3”):
What is my main problem?
What do I need to do?
Why is it important for me to do this?
Repeat the information in your own words to the doctor or nurse to make sure you understand it.
Write down the answers to your questions!
Write down what the doctor or nurse tells you about your health status, changes in medications and any recommended treatments or procedures.
Consider bringing a family member, friend, or other person to clinic appointments as your advocate.
Cindy Dubansky, MSW, LICSW, C-ASWCM is the President of Care Management Solutions, LLC, providing care management and health care advocacy services for seniors, people living with a disability or chronic illness and their families. Care Management Solutions is a member of the Minnesota Health Literacy Partnership www.healthliteracymn.org.
Care Management Solutions, LLC
PH: 612-308-0166. Email: info@caremanagementllc.com.
Website: www.caremanagementllc.com.
February 2011
Copyright © 2011 Cindy Dubansky, MSW, LICSW C-ASWCM. All Rights Reserved.
Friday, January 28, 2011
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