How to Talk So Your Doctor Will Listen
Practical tactics from a nurse to help you ace your next doctor’s appointment
My mother-in-law has been complaining about the same nerve pain in her leg for over a year. She’s had two treatments that have failed, but at a recent checkup, she was told it was a minor concern and she’d need to wait months to see a specialist.
Sound familiar?
Meanwhile, she can’t go up and down her stairs and has gained weight because she can no longer go on her daily walks. After some coaching from me, she called her doctor and came away with a specialist appointment scheduled for three weeks later. The secret? It’s not lying, and it’s definitely not being rude or demanding:
The secret is knowing how to talk to doctors.
Doctors have a tough job. They need to balance what patients ask for with what is medically justified or, in some cases, what is covered by insurance. Just like every other human being, they are susceptible to biases and lazy thinking. They also have to decipher what the problem is from patient stories that may be rambling, vague, or even misleading.
On the other hand, patients might feel like doctors are too rushed, not listening, or not taking them seriously. It’s not uncommon for people to leave a…
