Getting the most out of your doctor appointment Getting the most out of your doctor appointment (March 24, 2000)

by Kristin Razzeca, M.D.

This is the sixth in a series of articles on topics related to women's health being published by the Voice before the Third Annual Women's Health Forum on April 22. The Voice and El Camino Hospital are sponsoring this event.

Q. One of the casualties of the managed care era has been the long, unhurried doctor appointment. With a shorter amount of time in which to get our medical problems across to our doctor, how can we be most effective?

A. You need to do some preparation before the appointment. Have a clear idea of what your symptoms are and be able to describe them in specifics--for example, what kind of cough, the type and intensity of your pain, how long a symptom has been occurring. Doctors are trained to listen for certain symptoms and determine their meaning, but valuable time can be wasted if it takes several levels of questions to get to the real issues.

Q. How important is it to know your family s medical history?

A. Family history is very important and very useful to the doctor in trying to make a diagnosis. It would be helpful to know not just whether a family member died of a heart attack or cancer, but what kind of cancer, or whether someone had allergies, asthma, lupus, or thyroid disease, for example. Genetics plays a major role in disease, and the more we know about our family, the faster and easier a physician can get to an answer.

Q. Can a patient come armed with too much information about a disease? A. A patient who is well informed can be very helpful, but it is not the best use of your limited time with the doctor to talk about information that is often too general to apply to an individual. Again, be as specific as possible about your own symptoms. The doctor will listen and likely have additional information about the condition, especially as it applies to you.

Q. Many times we go to the doctor with a long list of problems, but leave only having covered one or two. How can we deal with this?

A. Be sure you have your symptoms in priority order so the most pressing ones do get treated first. Then set up a series of appointments so that you can bring up the lesser problems you are having. You shouldn't think of a doctor's appointment as a once-a-year-event, but rather as part of an ongoing, long-term relationship. You wouldn't put someone in charge of your financial investments, for example, and then not make contact again. The same goes for the relationship with your doctor.

Q. What's the best way to get the medical attention you need?

A. The bottom line is to have a good rapport with your doctor. Despite managed care and its time constraints, if you and your doctor have established this kind of caring relationship, your medical problems will get attended to.

Kristin Razzeca, M.D., is an internist on the staff at EL Camino Hospital and a member of the Camino Medical Group. Her office is in Sunnyvale.