Are you making your healthcare appointments work for you? Doctor appointments often seem like a waste of time to me, especially those regular 3 and 6 month follow-ups with the specialists. Why is it that whenever those appointments come up everything seems to be going well, then 3 weeks later things fall apart? Am I the only one?
There are so many factors that make up our healthcare appointments, but we are in control of more of those factors than we think. At least that’s the message that I came away with after reading Taking Charge: Making Your Healthcare Appointments Work for You, by Ricky White.
There are some definite nuggets of wisdom in the book, and with any book, there are moments where the meaning may get lost in the message, or perhaps not enough time was spent on the message. All in all, at a Kindle price of $2.99 there is definite value in the book.
The Misses:
Organization – The organization of the book at times seems worse than haphazard. Aspects like barriers that keep us from having a good medical visit are revisited and poorly organized.
Chapters in general don’t seem well organized or delineated. At one point I thought I was in a subtopic within a chapter not realizing he’d completely moved on and that left me confused.
Not recognizing the role that the doctor plays – I get that this is about things that we, as patients, can change.
But when someone (especially someone in the healthcare field) glosses over the fact that doctors often play a role in poor healthcare visits, and leaves us feeling as if the burden is entirely on the patient, it can feel really frustrating.
There is a chapter on what doctors expect from us as patients; I would have liked to have seen a parallel chapter about what we can and should expect from the doctor.
Inappropriate comments and humor – Humor can be helpful to lighten the load of an often heavy topic, but it has to be well-placed and it is tricky to manage. There are moments where I can tell that’s what the author is going for, but it misses the mark.
Comments about Pokemon may connect with a few readers, but will be a strike-out for others. Comments equating a patient asking for what they feel they need/want to a toddler asking for candy are just demeaning.
At times shallow information – While there is some really great info in this book, at times what is given is very surface or shallow.
He addresses barriers a couple of times, but does not really give you any guidance into how to know what barriers you are dealing with. Sometimes, they are obvious (for instance, if we are shy and have trouble speaking for ourselves, we usually know), but often they are not so obvious.
At the same time, while he talks about different barriers that you may encounter, the advice on how to overcome them is again shallow. You are shy so build your confidence. OK, how do I do that?
The Hits:
Perspective Matters – Reminders that our own mindset changes from day to day and how we feel affects how we take what is said to us are important, especially in the schema of healthcare appointments.
It’s easy when we are in pain to assume the worst in people. It’s also important to remember that doctors have bad days, too.
It's easy when we are in pain to assume the worst in people. It's also important to remember that doctors have bad days, too. Share on X
Document Everything – The chapter on documentation was probably my favorite.
The author covers making a binder that includes all of your doctor info, appointments, medications, doctor notes, etc that you take with you to every appointment. He also suggest several lists you may want to keep in this binder, including your areas of concern and any questions you have for your doctors.
This will help you make sure you cover everything in your appointments, or at least know what you missed. He suggests not only listing out what areas of concern you have, but why those things concern you.
“Having the “why” will help you express your areas of concern to your doctor. It will help convey the sense of importance you place on it, helping the doctor understand you and your problems a little better.”
Internationally Relevant – most books on managing healthcare are specific to just the US (or to whatever country they are written in). However, Ricky White started out in the UK before moving to the US, so he understands how to navigate both systems and addresses both in the book.
Not just what NOT to do – There are a couple of chapters where the author addresses things you should avoid doing during doctor appointments. This is great.
But, what’s better is that he provides alternatives for each one. For instance, instead of just telling you not to quote Dr. Google, he provides a way of addressing that you’ve found info online in a way that will not put your doctor on the defensive.
All in all, this is a decent little book, especially for just $2.99 on Amazon. I’d give it 3.5/5 stars. If it was better organized I’d give at least 4 stars. Some of the info and the way it’s presented may make you feel a bit frustrated (as it did me) but the valuable info that is provided does a good job of making up for that and makes it worth spending a couple of dollars on.
Related Posts:
- 4 good reasons to change doctors
- Women often mistreated by doctors
- 3 Steps to choosing the right doctor
- The Patient Playbook for chronic illness
- The importance of getting your medical records
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