Communication is the cornerstone of any successful relationship. Your working relationship with your doctor is no exception.
Your locum tenens hospitalist needs to fully understand your situation to provide you with the best possible medical care.
And while we know that many patients may have been embarrassed to share some details, we guarantee we’ve never seen a patient’s care go well when they’ve held back from their doctor.
If you aren’t forthcoming with your locum tenens hospitalist during your hospital stay, they will miss out on vital information that is important in providing you with the excellent care you deserve.
Even if you’re not worried about embarrassment and you happen to be a private person, a willingness to share your medical situation and history is something you’ll need to come to terms with before you’re admitted to the hospital.
Here are some ways to keep the lines of communication open and help your doctor help you.
Build Your Own Your Medical History
Thank goodness smartphones allow us to carry nearly everything in our pocket.
Using a simple note-taking app, write down your medical history and keep it all in one place. This will make sharing this information with your medical team easier when asked.
If you don’t have access to this kind of technology, carry a small flip pad and a pen. It doesn’t need to be complicated. It just needs to be something you can use to keep track of what’s going on.
One of the most significant issues with patients being seen by multiple physicians is that some information can be missed, ultimately putting your health at risk.
Don’t take that chance; ensure everyone is on the same page by keeping track of everything yourself.
Make sure that you get copies of reports and images. The hospital can request that information, but if it’s late at night, over a holiday, or on a weekend, they might not get it fast enough to help you.
Answer Every Question Honestly
Maybe you didn’t inhale, but if you used an illicit substance, your doctor needs to know.
They need to know about anything you’re taking or doing, whether that’s smoking, drinking, drugs (prescription, illegal, or OTC), and even vitamins.
Too often, patients will answer what they think the physician wants to hear rather than what’s true, which can lead to potentially serious consequences.
Remember this: Whether you tell your physician honestly what they need to know or not, they’ll likely find out eventually anyway.
They can learn a lot through urine and blood tests, and if you have an interaction with a prescribed medication, you’re going to have a lot more challenges than you would have had were you just honest from the get-go.
It is also important to note that your hospitalist can only order the tests that he or she thinks are relevant.
When you leave out critical information, you’re not just making the physician’s job harder—you’re risking your health.
Everything Is Important When It Comes to Your Health
While you may not think it’s vital for your physician to know that you had a cancer scare a decade ago, that bit of information could be crucial to your treatment today.
Those little omissions could be why you receive one diagnosis when you should have gotten a different one.
You are in control here, and as much as you might like to believe otherwise, locum tenens and hospitalists are not mind readers. The more you share with us, the better care we can provide.
And that will make your entire experience better.