How to communicate with your physician
Every day this week, during National Public Health Week, we’ve covered different public health themes, including food safety tips, school lunch safety, being healthy at work, and staying safe on the go.
Today, we take time to think about empowering a healthy community, which starts with prevention.
Regular visits to your doctor for preventative checkups and effectively communicating health concerns are an important part of staying healthy.
Dr. John Rogers, professor of family and community medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, outlines how to best take advantage of the opportunity to communicate with your physician.
- Find a primary care physician who you can connect with—do you want someone who will make decisions for you? Or someone who will give you options and then help you make decisions?
- Identify why you decided to make the appointment—is it an annual checkup? An acute illness, like a cold or flu? Need help managing a chronic illness like diabetes or arthritis?
- Prepare for your visit by taking note of issues you want to discuss or questions you have, because it’s easy to forget once you’re there.
- Be aware of how much time you have with your physician—make sure you leave enough time to discuss the questions or issues that are most important to you.
Need to find a primary care physician? Check out Baylor Family Medicine to find a physician who’s right for you.
-By Jordan Magaziner
