“I totally forgot to ask the doctor about…” 

Whether you’re going to the doctor for your own needs or as the caretaker for someone else, making the most of the appointment can be tricky. Why? Stressors related to conditions, a feeling like you’re wasting the doctor’s time, or even the feeling to need to make the most of this limited time with a medical professional can feel like you’re quickly throwing the entire appointment off target. 

The following are a few tips to lower the tension and make the most of doctor’s appointments for you or a loved one. 

Tip 1. Plan ahead before you plan ahead. 

A very simple way to make the most of appointments with doctors is to jot down all of the questions you wish to ask the doctor before you head out of the door for said appointment. For some, this works just fine. For others, attempting to rack their brain for all of the questions they want to ask just before an appointment is too much. 

What is the solution? 

Keep a running list a week in or more in advance. 

Whether you keep a journal or are familiar with a note-taking application on your phone, jot down your questions for you or your loved one’s doctor as soon as they arise. Then, the night before the appointment with the doctor, transfer these questions to a single sheet of paper or digital note to bring along to the appointment. 

Pro tip: If you’re jotting these questions down to bring with you, leave space on the paper to fill in the doctor’s reply. 

Tip 2. Get help guarding your attention. 

If you’re escorting a loved one to an appointment with their doctor, your first job is to be your loved one’s caretaker and secondly to be their advocate with the doctor. Unfortunately, being there for your loved one—especially a loved one with dementia—can overshadow your role as their patient advocate.

What is the solution? 

Get a friend to help. 

1. If you’re heading into a doctor’s appointment for a loved one where you have a lot of questions or you simply need to focus heavily on what the doctor is saying, recruit a friend or family member to assist in the caretaking duties.
2. If you don’t feel that additional caretaking abilities will be fully necessary, you can still opt to record the appointment using a voice recorder or specialized phone application. There is actually a medical appointment recorder and transcription application called Abridge that we have written about before. 

Tip 3. Set the agenda for the appointment from the outset. 

Doctors have a limited window of time to talk with their patients or advocates, so time is of the essence. It can be easy to feel slightly steamrolled by new information and forget that you have questions to ask. 

What is the solution? 

Let them know you have questions prepared before they even tell you any new updates. But then save them till the end.

As the doctor enters the room, after the initial greetings are dispensed, let them know that you have a number of questions for them. While they may then ask you to ask your questions, you may ask for the questions to be saved for after they dispense the information they have in case this new information answers any of the questions you have.

Once the doctor has finished with their news or questions for you, you can then ask your questions. Don’t feel odd about showing them your list of questions. It may also be helpful to include why you’re asking the questions you are—as the motivation for the questions can help doctors provide the most helpful answer. 

Tip 4. Repeat the doctor’s answer for confirmation or comprehension. 

Even when a doctor does answer your question, comprehending this answer for the average layman can be tricky. Even using a transcription app like Abridge can leave you later running to Google to make head-or-tails of what they said—and those answers can be terrifying when left to the internet to wrangle.

What is the solution? 

Repeat their answers in your own words back to them for confirmation. 

Once the doctor has given you an answer, repeating their answer back to them in your own words not only helps ensure that you understand what they are saying, but that they believe you understand what they said.

You may choose to reply by saying, “So, in other words…” before you repeat their answer in your own words. This will allow them to confirm or correct your understanding of the information. 

Tip 5. Write up your own summary of the appointment. 

So, you asked all of the questions you wanted to ask and received all kinds of new helpful information. Will this appointment seem just as helpful a week from now? Likely not. 

What is the solution? 

Jot down your own appointment summary. 

As soon as the doctor leaves the room, they will likely head back to their office to write up a summary of the appointment. You should do the same. As soon as you get back home and your loved one allows you the time to do so, handwrite a summary of the appointment. It doesn’t have to be word-for-word, but it should include the highlights of the appointment. Not only will this summary be helpful later for reference, but the act of writing it down will help you remember precisely what information was discussed. 

Hospice & Palliative Care Services in Tulsa, Oklahoma

If you or a loved one is looking for professional and compassionate hospice and palliative care in the Greater Tulsa, Oklahoma area, look no further than your friends at Cura HPC Hospice & Palliative Care.