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Questions to ask your doctor about your healthcare
- What do you think is causing my problem?
- Is there more than one condition (disease) that could be causing my
problem?
- What tests will you do to diagnose the problem and which of the conditions
is present?
- How good are the tests for diagnosing the problem and the conditions?
- How safe are the tests?
- What is the likely course of this condition? What is the long-term outlook
with and without treatment?
- What are my treatment options? How effective is each treatment option?
What are the benefits versus risks of each treatment option? Is there a
"gold standard" treatment?
- What specialists should I see?
- If my symptoms worsen or don't improve as expected, what should I do on my
own? When should I contact you?
- If I can't reach you who should I contact?
- Are you aware of each of the medications and over-the-counter preparations
that I am taking? Can they adversely interact with the medications you are
prescribing for me?
- Should we monitor for side effects of the medications that you are
prescribing or for their interactions with other medications I am taking?
- If you prescribe narcotic pain killers, anti-depressants, benzodiazepines,
or other drugs with potential risk for dependency, will you monitor them and
help me withdraw?
- How will I know when the treatments are successful?
- Is there a "clinical pathway" for treatment? A clinical pathway is a
patient care management tool that organizes, sequences, and times the major
interventions of nursing staff, physicians, and other departments for a
particular case type.
- What else should I know?
- What can I do to assist in my treatment and recovery?
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