Transcripts

Dr. Ann Hester:
When you're sitting on a cold examining room table half-naked that is not the time to pull together your explanation.

Internist Doctor Ann Hester, creator of the Patient Whiz, which helps people keep track of their medical information, says what you tell the doctor about what's wrong is so critical.

When I was in medical school one of my professors said most of the diagnosis is in the history not the examination and I thought he was crazy. But that is so true - by the time the patient finishes talking, if that patient gave a good account of the symptoms, ninety to ninety-five percent of the time the doctor will have a short list of potential diagnoses.

The better your explanation, the faster and more accurate the diagnosis - perhaps with fewer tests and fewer prescriptions. But Dr.Hester says patients often don't understand the need to get right to the point.

I timed a patient once - it took her eight minutes to answer a yes/no question. And in the midst of all of this time being consumed your bill goes up, the testing goes up, it's unnecessary.

As an example Dr. Hester says, when you go to the doctor for something like pain here is what you should be prepared to tell him or her…

If the pain moved anyplace, when the pain started, what makes it better or worse and by doing that you'll go a long way in helping your doctor.

You can link to Dr. Hester's website from ours: somethingyoushouldknow.net - I'm Mike Carruthers and that's Something You Should Know.