Whilst looking through some old posts on blogborygmi, I found a link to a WikiHow article about how to maximise time with a doctor. The article starts by explaining:

“Visiting the doctor for a new, undiagnosed medical problem can be daunting. Patients often struggle to try to get their symptoms across to the doctor in an effective manner, and the physician needs to gather the information they need from a patient without overlooking anything important. All this must be done during a medical interview which, on average, will be shorter than 10 minutes. Here’s how you can maximize the appointment by giving the doctor the information they are looking for in the same format they learned in medical school.”

The article then goes onto describe the ten recommended steps to take (check out the article for the full explanations):

  1. Bring an up-to-date cumulative patient profile
  2. Describe your basic reasons for the visit in one or two sentences
  3. Recall the onset and timing of your symptoms
  4. Explain what makes the pain better or worse
  5. Use adjectives to describe your symptoms more fully
  6. Point to the location of your symptoms
  7. Rate the severity of your symptoms
  8. Describe the setting and your condition when the symptoms occurred
  9. List other things that happen at the same time
  10. Expect the doctor to examine you

It then offers such tips as “Know your own health. It is very frustrating for both the patient and the doctor to meet face-to-face and then begin piecing together the story. ” and “Make a list of questions you have for your doctor. Most of the time, due to time constrains, You will forget what you were supposed to ask!”.

All in all it’s a fantastic article that I think all patients, especially new patients, should read and I agree with blogborygmi that it should be handed out in a pamphlet in waiting rooms. Read it, maybe print it out and try to remember it!