This essay is a work in progress that began a number of years ago, is still not finalized, may never be finished, but is at the point where I decided if I didn't do something with it, it would never be read, and would help nobody. I wrote it with the intention of helping patients maximize their time with me - their physician. I would encourage feedback from patients as to how I can help maximize my time with them.

• Know your history. . . There is some basic information that all patients should have at their fingertips - or in their wallet, purse, etc at all times. This information includes . . .
  • List of all active medical problems as well as the name and phone number of the physician managing this problem. Many patients have many issues going on at the same time any may be seeing two or more physicians for these problems. Knowing who you are seeing and how to reach them can help facilitate coordination of care.
  • List of all allergies and type of adverse reaction experienced and approximate date/age of reaction.
  • Names and doses of all current medications (prescription and nonprescription, including vitamins and herbs), name of the person prescribing the medication, and name and phone number of pharmacy it is being filled at. Even if one person in prescribing all of your medications, it is helpful to confirm that what you are taking is what the provider believes you are taking. Miscommunications can and do occur, such as a prescriber neglecting to clarify whether or not you should stop or continue a particular medication as a new one is started.
  • List of all previous surgeries and location of the surgery (hospital name and city)
  • List of all hospitalizations. (with reason for hospitalization, name of hospital and city.)
  • List of all previous immunizations. With the exception of when your last Tetanus booster was, you probably don't need to have the date of all your shots in your pocket at all times, but I encourage all patients to keep a list of all past immunizations in a safe place. Having access to this list may become important when one chooses to change jobs, go back to school, or travel over seas. Since I do a fair amount of travel medicine, it seems intuitive to me to recommend patients keep their shot records wherever they keep their passport - which is generally a safe location. If you don't have a passport, then find another safe place where you will remember where to find it when you need it.
• Know your problem. If you are being seen for a problem or concern, there is some basic information that is helpful for your physician to know about the concern for which you are being seen. This includes.
  • When the problem started.
  • What you have tried for this problem.
  • What makes the problem better or worse.
• Prioritize your visit. Frequently, unfortunately, many times visits are scheduled in such a way that only one, or maybe two separate concerns may be addressed at a visit. If, at the start of the visit, you express concisely what you hope to address during the visit, in the order of importance to you, it can be helpful to your physician. Knowing that a patient has more than one concern at the start may affect the time spent addressing each issue. Understand that the more issues that need addressed will affect the degree to which an issue is addressed. Likewise, if I think that a patient is here for a follow-up on a particular problem, not realizing that the patient is really here to discuss something else, dissatisfaction is bound to occur. I know most physicians have spent all the allotted time one problem, only to find out after all the time is spent that an expectation existed for more-or different- issues to be discussed. This is uncomfortable for the physician who wants to address the patients concerns, but also recognizes that other patients time is valuable and doesn't want to keep them waiting unnecessarily. I am sure this is also uncomfortable for the patient who is dissatisfied that everything he/she wanted to address was not addressed, or was addressed incompletely.