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Don't Be Afraid to Talk to Doctors | |
| TOWN & COUNTRY A Hearst Magazine For AP Special Features Don't be afraid to talk - and talk back - to your doctor and the sometimes intimidating crew of nurses and technicians who make up your health-care team. "Medicine is the only area in which we go in feeling victimized, where we feel we don't have any rights," Roz Kleban, social-work supervisor at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, told Michelle Stacey in the current issue of Town & Country. To act otherwise - to learn to take control of your medical life - is not easy. The United States has seen a massive shift toward open communication between doctor and patient in the last two decades. "The educational establishment was delinquent about doctor-patient relationships and communication for a long time," said Dr. M. Roy Schwarz, former group vice president of medical education, science and practice standards for the American Medical Association. In the last 15 years or so, he added, doctors in training have actively been taught how to deal personally with patients. But as doctors have had to be retaught, so have patients had to educate themselves about redefining their medical relationship. "Some people aren't the type to want to ask what the dosage of each drug should be," said Natalie Davis Spingarn, a 22-year breast-cancer survivor and vice chairman of the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship. "Some people want to just trust the doctor." Kleban says part of the problem in communicating is the patient's fear of what he might hear. She advises her clients not to ask questions if the answer is one they don't want. There are things patients can do to get what they need from conversations with doctors. Many are recommended by the American Medical Association. -Know your medical history. -Make a list of questions. Take notes if you need to or use a tape recorder. Ask for reading materials that may provide details about your situation. -If your condition is serious or complicated, take another person along to help ask questions and absorb information. -If you feel confused or overwhelmed, you might consider going with another medical professional, perhaps a social worker. Kleban often sits in on physician meetings and describes herself as "an advocate and go-between who can help translate medical information." Open doctor-patient exchanges can be sabotaged by patient timidity. "People are intimidated and frightened about saying, 'Excuse me, I didn't understand that, can you explain it again?' " Kleban said. "They want to appear put together and intelligent." One of the hardest tasks is helping her clients realize that their needs come first. "It is the patient who needs to be put at ease, not the doctor," she said. "It's the doctor's job to answer your questions, to make you feel safe and taken care of. You have standards, and if a physician doesn't meet those standards, you need to go elsewhere." Don't worry about your medical records. They belong to the patient and at your request will be forwarded to a new physician. Copyright 1996 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | |