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QHHL 
Doctor-patient communication is one of the most important factors in determining the outcome of a health assessment. With the right information, your doctor will be able to determine your health status accurately. However, if your doctor doesn’t get the right information they might make a misdiagnosis. And this can be incredibly dangerous because with many disorders, early diagnosis is the key to a good outcome. This is why you need to understand the basics of doctor-patient communication, and what you can do to improve it.
When you visit your doctor, their primary goal is to perform a health assessment and reach a diagnosis. Your goal is to communicate all the information they need to assess your health. This sounds fairly simple, but the reality is that there are a number of errors that can result from this interaction. Doctors make their diagnoses based on two primary aspects of your communication.
The first aspect they focus on is the severity of your symptoms. No matter what type of symptoms you have, your doctor will usually focus on the more painful or obvious. You will naturally communicate this symptom more urgently. This is understandable, but it can also result in your doctor ignoring other symptoms or problems. This can be a major problem if the other symptoms are important, potentially dangerous, or related to the symptom on display. It can cloud the diagnosis and result in a serious health risk.
The second aspect that determines diagnosis is caused by limitations on the information your doctor has. Doctor’s appointments are short and their attention is often divided. As a result, the information they use to make their diagnosis is limited as well. Most of the time, your doctor will make a diagnosis based solely on the information they receive in that brief visit. This may include the following components:
Errors can occur as a result of problems with both aspects of doctor-patient communication. If your doctor focuses on one symptom above the others it may result in the wrong diagnosis. It could also cause them to make wrong and potentially dangerous assumptions about your health status. Miscommunications during your doctor’s appointment could cause the same problems and errors. Some of these elements are beyond your control, such as the result of the physical exam. Others you have some control over, such as how you communicate your symptoms and overall health. That’s why it’s important that you address the elements you can improve. This will allow you to take some control over your own health and take steps to safeguard this very important health risk.
Clearly, you need to ensure that your doctor-patient communication is improved. This means giving them all the information they need to make the right diagnosis in a limited time period. The following strategies will give you the best chance of communicating your problems clearly so the chances of a medical error are reduced:
Taking these measures will help you communicate better with your doctor and avoid many of the errors that can come about from ineffective doctor-patient communication.
If you want to communicate more effectively with your doctor, try using HomeLab to keep track of your health and wellbeing. The specially designed program will help you to keep track of your health risk factors and allow you to give your doctor all the information they need to make the right diagnosis.
Tags: health risk, health assessment
