Simple ways to become your own health advocate

Read time: 5 minutes

If you’ve ever returned home from a doctor appointment with a few questions, that’s normal. With a phone call to the office, a nurse can often answer the question, or check with your doctor. If your doctor’s office offers a secure patient portal through its website, you can efficiently communicate back and forth that way, too.

What’s potentially harmful to your health is if you get home, have a slew of questions, and don’t really understand your diagnosis or what the treatment is.

The remedy for that is to be your own health advocate before, during and after your doctor visits. That simply means being an active participant in your health care: communicating your symptoms and concerns, asking questions, and making informed decisions with your doctor.

Being your own health advocate might come naturally to you. But if you’ve never assumed that role, it’s not too late — and WebMD offers a few things to consider before your next visit:

Think about your relationship with your doctor.

You and your doctor are partners. You should feel you can talk to him or her about anything. Your doctor, in turn, should be open, honest, and trusting, and should ensure you understand and feel comfortable with the health decisions you make.

Be open and honest.

Just like you trust your doctor to be open and honest, you have that same responsibility. Your doctor needs complete information about your health. Keep a folder or notebook with information such as:

Symptoms
Current prescriptions
Past medical records or lab test results, such as X-rays
Personal and family medical history
Drug allergies
Over-the-counter medicines, herbs, vitamins or supplements you take

Let the doctor know if you’ve noticed any changes in your health since your last visit, like appetite, energy levels, bathroom habits, or ability to sleep. Don’t assume these changes are unimportant.

Meeting a new doctor for the first time.

If this is your first appointment with a new doctor:

Let the doctor know if you have any hearing or vision problems that make it hard to communicate.
Ask for help in your native language or ask if the doctor’s office has an interpreter. You can also bring a friend or family member with you to help.
Ask how to contact your doctor’s office with questions, insurance matters, medicine refills, or to schedule follow-ups. Some practices may prefer email to phone calls with non-urgent requests.

Write down your questions.

Before your visit, make a list of all your questions, from most pressing to least. In a perfect world, all your questions will be answered.

However …

If you have a lot of ground to cover, it’s possible you may need to schedule another appointment to continue the conversation.
Or, if your doctor spends a lot of time on (and gives you great insight into) your most important questions, that’s time well-spent. In that case, you might consider getting your other questions answered later — through a phone call or online through the patient portal.

Take charge of your role.

As a health advocate, you have to do your part, too.

Be on time for your appointments. Yes, you might have to wait. Your doctor may be dealing with an urgent matter regarding another patient, or running a little behind because he or she is giving each patient ahead of you as much time as possible. Something you’ll be grateful for when it’s your turn.

Take your medications as prescribed.

Follow your doctor’s recommendations about diet, exercise, rest, smoking and alcohol use.

Listen while they explain your diagnosis or treatment options. Once they’re finished, ask questions or bring up your concerns.

If you still don’t understand your diagnosis or treatment options, ask to have them explained in a clear, simple way until you do.

Don’t sign any consent form until you understand it completely and the doctor has answered all your questions.

Consider these questions.

Among the many questions you may want to ask your doctor are these:

What are all the treatment options for this condition?
Why you may need certain tests, treatments or procedures. (Question for your insurance company: Find out if your insurance plan covers any new prescription, test or procedure.)
The risks and side effects of any tests, treatments or procedures. You can also ask what they cost and if there are less expensive options.
The success rates of potential treatments.
Any medical terms you don’t understand.
Any new medication.
- Ask why you’re taking it, the possible side effects, how and when to take it, and what to do if you miss a dose or can’t take it due to side effects. Your pharmacist can answer these questions, too.
- Ask if there’s another drug from the same family that is covered by your insurance. Or see if you can switch to a generic drug. (You can also do the legwork by calling pharmacies or going online to find out where you can get the best price on any new prescription drug.)

Ask about health homework.

There are many sources of medical information for you to read if you want to learn basic information about a particular condition and its potential treatment. Sources such as WebMD, Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic and others.

Your doctor can fill in the gaps about how what you’ve learned applies to your situation. Also, ask your doctor if there are specific materials he or she would like you to read to become better acquainted with your health condition.

It might be safe to say no one loves going to the doctor — even if they love their doctor! Sometimes, routine checkups — let alone health issues that can crop up — can be stressful.

But by being your own health advocate, it’s possible to feel like you have a little more control over the experience, and can feel more confident about the decisions you make with your doctor.