Communicating well with your doctor
Description
Having a good relationship with your doctor or health care provider will help you feel more confident with your care. It also leads to better care and outcomes.
The core of this relationship is good communication. You and your provider must be able to easily share information, questions, and concerns.
There are many steps you and your provider can take to help make sure you understand what your provider is thinking and planning.
Keep your doctor informed
Tell your providers about any symptoms you are having, past treatments, and any medicines, vitamins, or herbs you are taking. Do this even if your provider does not ask about it.
Remember, you know more about your symptoms and health history than anyone else. Your doctors and nurses will depend on you to fill in the gaps. You are helping both yourself and your providers when you let them know about a symptom or problem. This include problems not just related to your joints, it can be with your smoking habits or living conditions. You need to have the right set up to allow you to do well from your surgery.
When you see your provider, bring the following:
- A list of all your medicines, herbs, vitamins, and supplements you are taking.
- Include how often you take them and what dose.
- If you can, bring the medicines with you in their containers.
- Bring any medical reports or actual x-rays or imaging studies, if your provider does not know about them.
Keeping yourself informed
Make sure that you understand all the information and advice from your providers.
Both your surgeon and the hospital likely perform many hip replacements every year. For you, however, having this surgery is an important event, and you deserve to have all of your questions answered.
Before you see your provider, think about your symptoms, problems, or questions. Write them down.
Tips for when you see your providers:
- If your providers use too many difficult words or are talking too fast, stop them and tell them that you do not understand.
- Ask your doctor to draw or show you pictures or models about what will happen.
- Write down notes or bring somebody along to take notes for you.
- If you need more time, but your doctor must go, ask if there's someone else you can talk to more, such as a nurse or physician's assistant.
- You can also write down questions and send them to your doctor so that your doctor can answer them for you.
Reviewed By: C. Benjamin Ma, MD, Professor, Chief, Sports Medicine and Shoulder Service, UCSF Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, San Francisco, CA. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, Brenda Conaway, Editorial Director, and the A.D.A.M. Editorial team.
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