The excerpt below is from an article titled “Could I Be a Better Patient?”
Special to The Washington Post by Jennifer Huget.
We like this simple and practical summary for patients.
You think you’ve got this being-a-patient thing down pat: You put on your paper gown (opening in the back), flip through a dog-eared People magazine, have your blood pressure taken, see the doctor for five minutes, answer his or her questions, pay your co-pay and get back to work.
But is there anything you can do to get more out of that doctor visit?
A lot, according to three experts: Richard Frankel, a geriatrics professor and senior research scientist at the Regenstrief Institute of the Indiana University School of Medicine; Carolyn Clancy, director of the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ); and Richard Kellerman, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP). And you’ll help your doc do a better job, too.
Read the entire article at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/21/AR2007092101843.html?referrer=delicious