When you go to your general practitioner (GP)/primary care provider/doctor’s office, please keep these things in mind.

1) Realize that your doctor doesn’t know everything. One human/medical specialist cannot know it all. And a good practitioner knows what he doesn’t know. If your doctor refers you to a specialist, it’s because he thinks you need to see one. Your primary care doctor/GP cannot replace your arthritic knee. He cannot fix your detached retina or eroded pacemaker. He cannot put a stent in your heart. Likewise, he won’t manage your pregnancy, paranoid schizophrenia, or myasthenia gravis exacerbation.

2) Know what medicines you’re taking. Saying you take “the white pill” or “the round pill” is not only unhelpful, but makes your health care provider wonder how seriously you take your own health. Please, when you go visit your doctor, bring a list of your medications with both the names and dosages of them and how many times a day you take them. This can make getting refills and treatments much quicker. It could also save your life.

3) Know what pharmacy you go to. The doctor is going to send medication to whatever pharmacy is listed in the system. If you don’t tell the nurse checking you in that you prefer the Wal-Mart in Suffolk as opposed to the listed Walgreens in Hampton, your prescription will likely go to Hampton or simply to the pharmacy across the street from the office. Don’t make staff guess what street your pharmacy is on. Providing the fax number isn’t very helpful, either. A name and address is.

4) Be specific. When your doctor asks, “How long’s it been there?” and you answer, “a while,” that is not a clue that leads us in the right direction. When your doctor asks, “Do you have a sore throat?,” he’s talking about a recent sore throat or a sore throat concurrent with the present ailment, not a sore throat you had at age 10 when you were at summer camp in California. When your doctor asks, “Where is your pain?,” don’t respond, “all over.” Be as precise as possible.

5) Stay focused. Your doctor is treating you, not your neighbor’s girlfriend’s cousin’s best friend’s brother-in-law. So, please refrain from asking questions about what he should do about a particular problem. Please also refrain from weaving other people into your response to a question that should be supplied a terse answer. Also, the appointment is for you, not your spouse, so don’t talk about your spouse’s medical issues.

     5a) Please keep any sexually solicitous comments to yourself. Your doctor’s office is neither the time nor place. Besides, your doctor isn’t there for that and neither are you.

     5b) Don’t ask about your doctor’s family. Let’s keep the lines of professionalism and family separate.

     5c) The doctor’s office is not a runway. There’s no need to jabber on about what your doctor is wearing. Or to ask if he/she has been losing weight.

6) Realize that time is limited. And precious. By the time your doctor gets in the room, he’s out of time. So again, numbers 2-5 are important. Your doctor probably sees 20-30 patients/day. He’s not being rude, he just has to move along in order to treat everyone. And not knowing why you’re at the office, what meds you take, what pharmacy you go to, or how long you’ve been suffering a particular ailment the doctor is trying to treat just puts him further behind schedule. So does talking about unrelated matters, making unwarranted crude comments, making small talk, and pointing out what he’s wearing.

Additionally, your doctor cannot address all of your 12 acute problems in addition to your chronic issues (diabetes, hypertension, depression, sleep apnea, etc.) and do a Pap smear and drain your boil in one office visit. You will likely need to make multiple appointments to have everything addressed. For your doctor to treat you safely, he needs to get information for each condition and do an exam and possibly order some work-up tests. This takes time. Seeing 20-30 patients a day with many problems means there’s not a whole lot of time in one visit.

7) If you need something done, make an appointment. Trying to fill out FMLA forms or write a letter to your landlord without any background information is quite tough. It’ll be quicker if your provider is in the loop and you can say in person what exactly you need. It also respects your doctor’s time. And yours, because your paperwork will be done much faster.

8) Don’t trust the system. Yeah, the doctor is there to help but is also overwhelmed, sleep deprived, hungry, in need of a bathroom, and in a hurry. Never assume that your doctor has read your records, knows your allergies by heart, or has an accurate list of your medicines. It’s good to keep diligent records yourself and advocate for yourself. Ask questions. Understand your diagnoses and treatments.

9) Don’t make excuses. As to why you’re late, why you never picked up the cholesterol medication that was sent in four months ago, why you didn’t return for lab work, and why you don’t exercise. Yeah, we get that life happens and medicine is expensive. You don’t have to elaborate. But it is helpful to ask for help from your doctor’s office when you need it. Let us know if something isn’t working out for you.

10) Be on time. Primary care offices operate on a schedule. When you have an appointment at 10:00, I expect to see you at 10:00. You should expect to see me at that time as well. Otherwise, why have a set time? I have heard that some patients wait hours to see their doctor. My patients don’t wait that long. Tardiness jeopardizes the quality of your visit and even takes time away from other patients who are on time. If you’re going to be late, please do call and let us know. Better yet, reschedule if you’re going to show up 35 minutes after your 30 minute appointment.

The patient-provider relationship is a special one. I want to care for you. Let’s respect each other and let’s communicate. ~