Speak-Up, Advocate for Yourself
“Whenever a doctor cannot do good, he must be kept from doing harm.” ~Hippocrates
I like my doctor, my family physician and I grew up together and I have known him most of my life…before he took over my medical care, his father was my doctor for years and years. I have many friends and acquaintances who are involved in the medical field and who have a real desire to see the improved health and wellbeing of the patients in their care. This is the advantage of developing a relationship with a primary care physician, you develop an advocate for your health. I feel like I am lucky because I have this relationship with my doctor. Many people don’t have a close relationship with their doctor because of things that are beyond their control such as a lack of health insurance, lack of availability of physicians, the reorganization of physicians who are in or out of network, the exorbitant cost of healthcare…the list just goes on and on as to the challenges in developing a relationship with a primary care physician. With the ever-increasing challenge to find a primary care physician, more and more patients find themselves at the emergency department at the hospital or at the local urgent care waiting in line with a room full of other people who are waiting hours for a 15-minute visit with an overworked doctor. As much as we all look to doctors for our health and wellbeing, doctors are human too. With shortages in family doctors looming ever larger and other facilities becoming overwhelmed by waiting patients, sometimes, things might get overlooked, missed, or not taken into account by a nurse or doctor, despite their best intentions.
I bring this topic up today because a friend of mine was sharing a story of how over the past six years, as she has been to local physicians, urgent care units and the local hospital to seek medical help. My friend thought she has been suffering from chronic UTI’s (urinary track infections) and over the years has been giving battery after battery of antibiotics with little success. It came to light that she has had blood in her urine and that all her test came back negative as to the UTI (but never reported back to her), but the initial thought has always been that it was a UTI. So, scripts were written, and the patient sent on her way. All three locations that she has been going to over the years never seemed to put them together…they just saw the initial diagnosis and assumed it was the same again. All this information came to be known as my friend started asking questions and challenging the assumptions of the doctors and nurses. She started being proactive in her health care and being more involved in what her options for treatment might be moving forward. She is now speaking up, advocating for herself, and now armed with the documentation from all her past physician visits, is seeing a specialist in hopes of avoiding more serious health issues.
I want to be very clear here on this point. My friend is trying to get a better handle on her health and the physicians and nurses who had treated her believed that they had a handle on things…I am not trying to create a vision of fault or blame…I am simply saying that we all need to take a greater role in the management of our own health.
Patients and physicians alike must take on the role and the responsibility in the care and measurement of our own health. If you have questions for your doctor, and as the patient, you feel that those questions are not being answered, it’s ok to reach out to another doctor who is willing to answer those questions. But, in that same line of thought, if your doctor is telling you something you don’t want to hear like excessive drinking or smoking is unhealthy for you, you’re not likely to find another doctor to tell you otherwise. In the case of my friend, she wanted better answers…she ended up going to a specialist who helped her understand what has been going on for years. The fear and concern is early onset bladder cancer... (I am not a physician, I’m just relating what her doctor shared with her). More test to follow and I hope that too much time hasn’t elapsed and that there is a positive course of action for her. Had she remained passive and never asked hard questions…who knows what outcome would transpire, but at least she has a better understanding of what is going on and can now face the future armed with knowledge and a plan of action.
Don’t be afraid to speak up and ask questions as you advocate for yourself. If you feel like you can’t advocate for yourself, bring along someone who is comfortable in advocating for you. When I say advocate, I mean ask questions and become involved in the process…I don’t mean being disrespectful or contemptuous of the person or people who are trying to help you. If you really feel like things are not going as you would like, it’s ok to seek a second opinion…but be involved in your own health. Take care of yourself and each other, remember, we’re all in this together.
Wm Reid
Best Home Care Services
325 N Eastern Ave
Connersville, IN 47331
765-827-9833
wmreid@bhcshealth.com