“When I go to a new doctor they ask me what medications I am taking and I always forget.”
Do you have difficulty remembering to tell the doctor everything at an appointment. Do you feel overwhelmed when you try to remember the things you need to tell your doctor? Try this solution:
Low Tech:
It is helpful to create a medical notebook listing all of the following:
- General information: name, address, date of birth, etc
- Current medications with dosage
- Past medications with side effects
- Past medical history: past surgeries and dates, hospitalizations, injuries, etc.
- Current doctors including contact information
- Health insurance information with a copy of insurance cards
- Emergency contacts
- Advanced directives
Include a section where you can write questions for the physician. Try to write your questions and concerns for the doctor as you think of them. Otherwise you may remember those questions after it is too late. Make sure to take notes in the notebook of the result of each medical appointment. This will transform your medical notebook into a running health history.
High Tech:
If you have a smart device or a computer, try to save this medical notebook into your Dropbox application (or your preferred cloud storage system). This will allow you to access the information and update it from any location.
Another high tech solution is using an application called MyMedical. This application is available on most smart devices and allows you to fill out all your medical information and access it from your smart device at any time. You can print and give this information to your provider, or email it to your provider’s office in advance.
Helpful tip:
If you find filling out medical forms in the waiting room overwhelming with so much noise in the background, ask the doctor to send you any forms in advance. If your physician has routine questions that are asked each visit, have those sent to you in advance as well so you can fill them out and hand them to your doctor. This will improve the communication with your provider and there is nothing more important in your care than clear communication with your medical professionals.