Things To Expect When You Visit A Doctor For Medical Diagnosis

To see a pharmacist or a doctor for disease diagnosis is one thing, getting proper treatment is another.
Achieving proper medical diagnosis require a whole lot of process from both the patient and the medical personnel.

For your doctor to be able to give you a proper diagnosis, there are questions that must be answered by you in a clear, logical manner. If the doctor misunderstands the answer given, it could be fatal leading to wrong diagnosis and imprecise prescription.

Knowing signs and symptoms of your conditions will go a long way in reducing wrong information and misunderstanding by your doctor. Your ability to explain what you know will play a big role in a proper diagnosis. This can be achieved when you know the kind of questions you are expecting and how to answer them properly.

In Nigeria, the ratio of doctors to the patient is so high that you barely have enough time to send the message you intend. This can frustrate both parties, as medication may not tally with a medical condition. To avoid this, the first thing is to observe yourself and write down what you are feeling. At this stage, you are welcome to meet with your doctor.

Read Also: Drug Information Patient Should Know In Their Drug Leaflet

A Date With Your Doctor

All doctors are trained to give you a hospitable (hospital) treat when you visit. This is an extra measure to calm your nerves down for the main work at hand. This really help a lot since many people see them as demi-gods to be feared. After all the initial formalities, he comes for your:

Medical Diagnosis

• Demography: This includes information such as your name, gender, age, race, weight, geographic location etc. The reasons for these data is that some diseases are specific in nature. This helps to rule out some diseases and focus on some few options. For example, some diseases affect only some people in a particular age bracket or more pronounce in maybe a particular race or culture. This may even be all he needs to diagnose. During the time of Ebola virus, any person who falls I will and is from the countries with Ebola virus was treated like a carrier. What that means is that just the name of the country is enough for diagnosis. Although more questions are needed. A word of caution; wrong information here can be fatal.
• Chief Complaint: This is the time when you will do most of the talking. The doctor will ask you what you are feeling including how. You are expected to narrate the signs and symptoms in details. Some of the details are;
• Location: Where are you feeling the signs and symptoms? Explain if it is coming from inside the body or if it is superficial (under the skin).
• Severity: Try and describe the pain as to how bad it is. Indicate how often it occurs and when it do, the effects of your actions that reduce or worsened it.
• Time/Duration: How long have you been observing it? When does it happen? Morning or afternoon, before or after food? etc.
• Past Medical History: Have you had a similar issue before. Is there any difference observe. What did you do the first time to treat it?
• Medications: Sometimes, doctors will want to know if you took or are taking any medications currently be it self-medicated or prescribed. If any, state the reason. Indicate the dose, duration, and effect.
• Activities: Doctors can actually get the cause of a problem from this section alone. It involves lifestyle, which is smoking, sexual activities, alcohol history. It also helps to know the right type of advice to give during patient counselling. The prescription can also be altered with information gotten here. Others include a method of protection, history of sexually transmitted diseases, the number of partners etc.
• Obstetrics: History of any previous pregnancy and what was the situation. Any other information is highly valuable.
• Allergies/Adverse Reaction: Please indicate any allergies, be it some drug products, alcohol, smoking and others. This may as well alter drugs you may be given.
• Family History: Some diseases are hereditary hence the need to peep into your family affairs. Oops, not to worry, your private information will not be given out without your consent even with your own family members. Explain if any persons related to you had had a similar condition. How old was the person when it happens. Information's like this I tell you is so important
• Screening: This is almost the last step as at this stage, he already has a diagnosis he is working on from all your explanations. However, to be safe, the doctor may ask you passively if you had done any screening of recent to help in the diagnosis. It involves scanning and other tests.

The doctor picks up his pen and tries to scribble things in the card from you for you. He may prescribe for a test, drugs, admission, surgery, or referral to another qualified doctor. At this stage, you can ask questions to clarify matters you did not understand.

Read Also: Hospital Units Found In Most Nigerian Hospital

What You Can Ask Your Doctor

As a patient, you have every right to know the cause of your disease. These include the alternatives of getting rid of it. Below is an incomplete list of what you ought to know from your doctor:

• The cause of the condition if strange should be well explained to you. Knowing the cause will further enable you to prevent it next time thereby reducing hospital visit. 
• Try to find out more about the condition like how long will the condition be with and without treatment options. If there are several options of treatment, find out the most effective with less side effect.
• How to tackle the disease when there is another one. This is very important to avoid drug-drug interaction from drugs of two different diseases from different doctors.
• During the cause of treatment, there is supposed to be an improvement. Funny enough, most drugs have a particular pattern they all follow. This makes the prediction of the signs and conditions possible. Your doctor ought to tell how you will fell during the cause of the treatment. This is what to expect as treatment commences.
• Can the test result be wrong in some cases? Somehow, the safety of the process can be questioned if you are in doubt.
• Treatment options (alternatives)
• Precautions to take during the cause of the illness, during the cause of treatment and after completing treatment with a total cure.
• Ask how long you will be treated if you want. 
• You should always ask what the present cost of treatment is. This may change as treatment continues. It may increase or decrease. Try to get all this at the back of your hand so that you will not fall victim of those who could not complete their dose due increase price on drugs you are taking. Check other treatment options that are affordable.
• This information on side effect is not supposed to skip any person most especially when you have not taken such drugs before. As to how to react when a side effect pops up or an unknown, unwanted effects.
• Find out if there is need to adjust any aspect of your lifestyle to improve on treatment and your health. Remember most activities that are bad during treatment are also bad when healthy.
• Be careful how you take your drugs. This includes how and when. Right diagnosis with a right prescription will go bad with the wrong method of taking the drug. This is a very crucial step in achieving desired therapeutic goals as this may reduce the efficiency of prescription. 
• Ask for any follow-up schedule. Depending on the nature of the condition, shorter schedules produce the best result.

Good question and answer discussion with you doctor goes a long way in establishing a therapeutic relationship with him. This will build the trust as to sharing vital information that will encourage better health. There are situations whereby the patient is asked to get a surgery. At that stage, he has the right to know every detail of the surgery to be carried out. This he can do by asking very valuable questions like:

• Why is this surgery necessary? 
• Get to know the procedures involve including anaesthetic to be used. Also, include in your questions who and who will be part of the team.
• Try to find out if there are other alternatives while the doctor helps you in evaluating the risk and benefits of the other if any.
• I know every person in a condition like this must ask the very important question. You do not need any person to tell you before doing it. You will find out chances of survival including the risk of permanent damage to any parts of the body
• The cost of most medical procedures are usually high so there is every tendency to ask this before proceeding.
• How will this benefit my family and me? If the benefits far out weight the risk, it is like that, it is to go ahead with it.
• How long it does normally take for others who have done this kind of operation to recover and start working? 
• Lastly, it is not out of place to ask for the doctors pre-degree in handling the operation procedure including those of his team members.

No matter how we downplay it, a good communication with a doctor makes diagnosis easy and that is to our own benefits. Note that not all questions outline here will be necessary at all time. Some answers normally rule out some questions. Take, for example, a doctor ask if you smoke. If your answer is no, he cannot as how long of which that will be the next question for the one that says yes.

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