Communication with Your Doctor Is a Two-Way Street

King County is teaming with the nonprofit Puget Sound Health Alliance to present Own Your Health, a campaign to empower consumers to become active participants in their own health and health care.

Sometimes it makes sense to keep your thoughts to yourself. Speaking your mind might feel awkward, hurt someone’s feelings a little, or even get you in trouble. You also may have been raised to keep quiet about certain things.

But there’s one place where keeping your thoughts to yourself can really hurt your health: your doctor’s office.

If you don’t communicate well with your doctor, and with your whole health care team, your health can really be affected:

• How can your doctor best help you if you don’t reveal symptoms you’re experiencing or your top health concerns?
• How can your doctor answer your questions if you don’t ask them?
• If you get a side effect from a prescription, how can your doctor help unless you say something?

Your doctor knows medicine. You bring something important to the doctor-patient relationship too. You know yourself. And if you research a condition you’re facing, you also bring that knowledge. So you need to communicate. Depending on who we are and what we’ve grown to expect from a doctor’s visit, that comes easier for some of us than others.

Being in a doctor’s office can be intimidating. Not because your doctor is trying to make it that way, but because there’s a certain level of authority in the air. Your visit may also not be as long as you would like, so you may feel time pressure. And you may be a facing a health issue that makes you feel vulnerable emotionally and physically.

Even if you don’t normally share how you feel, the doctor’s office is a place where you should make an exception, take a risk and share. It’s not a place to just smile and nod. It’s not a place to be silent. The benefits of improving communication with your doctor can be immediate. You’ll feel heard and your doctor can meet your needs better. Your doctor has a wealth of information to share with you. By speaking up, you can get the detailed information you need.

Let’s look to what King County employees said in the Own Your Health survey:

• 97% of respondents ask questions during a doctor’s appointment when they don’t understand something. That’s great! Remember to always ask questions until you get answers.
  
• 23% of respondents always write out a list of questions before a doctor’s appointment, while 54% sometimes do. By writing out questions in advance, you can make sure your questions are proactive and you can prioritize your top questions.
• 22% of respondents take notes during a doctor’s appointment. That’s a tool we can all try to use. While some doctors will give you a visit summary, it may not include something that's important to you. Taking your own notes can help you remember next steps and keep track of your history. If you’re in a meeting at work, you take notes to stay on top of things. Same at the doctor’s office.
• 61% of respondents say you repeat what the doctor tells you in your own words to make sure you understand. That’s another great method you can use, especially since medical terms can be so challenging.

Your doctor’s office should make information and materials available to you in your preferred language(s). The Own Your Health website also has an important resource that applies to some of us: “Deaf or Hard of Hearing: Tips for Working With Your Doctor.” Find it under Spotlight on the Own Your Health homepage.

We’ve talked about how your primary care doctor is your partner in health. It’s ongoing communication that will make that doctor-patient relationship strong and successful, helping you stay as healthy as you can. That means taking an active role in preparing for your appointment and speaking up and listening during it.

What can you do next?

• Visit our new ”Talking to Your Doctor” health topic page on the Own Your Health website for more information and resources, including a link to AHRQHealthTV’s “Questions Are the Answer” videos. This playlist of YouTube videos features patients, doctors and nurses talking about the importance of asking questions.
• Use the Own Your Health “Tell Your Story” form on our Get Involved page to share your answer to the question: “What tips would you give a friend on communicating well with his or her doctor?” We may post your answer to the site.
• Visit the Questions Are the Answer website. It includes a Question Builder.