Doc Visits: It's Good You Came Along
By Paula Spencer Scott, Caring.com senior editor
Caregivers accompany their loved ones to doctor appointments for many different reasons: to provide transportation, to see the patient safely from the car to the waiting room to the exam --- and to be a second pair of eyes and ears in giving and receiving medical information. That last reason can make a real difference in medical care, researchers say. And they wish more doctors would pay attention and utilize caregivers to improve care.
Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that three-quarters of older adults were accompanied to doctor visits, almost always by the same companion. Of these companions (mostly spouses and adult children), 70 percent provided the doctor with information, 67 percent asked questions, and more than half relayed the doctor's instructions to the patient.
Reporting in the January 2012 issue of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, the researchers say this shows that caregivers have an important role in providing care that doctors would be well-served to pay greater attention to.
"Continuity of care is a central tenant of an effective patient-provider partnership," said Jennifer L. Wolff, PhD, lead author of the study and an associate professor with the Bloomberg School's Department of HealthPolicy and Management, in medical Xpress. "This work suggests that quality of care improvements may result from more productive communication and education that targets both patients and their companions."
The doctor-patient-caregiver relationship is as important as it is unique. So keep coming along -- and speaking up.
(Hear a geriatrician's perspective on why doctors often prefer to talk to caregiver, rather than patients.)
I do not watch a lot of TV, but my wife was hooked on House (a story about an excentric doctor who worked out puzzling diseases). The lead in the show Dr. House in almost every segment would say "patients lie." Which at the time I thought was pretty weird until I started accompanying my mom (87) to Dr.'s appt's. For example she has had high blood pressure for as long as I can remember, but every time a doctor or nurse asks, her answer is "no, no I don't think so." and it is always high. At one point they had found minor ulcers in her esophagus which were "no problem," until she did not tell the surgeon or anyone else, before her hip replacement surgery. So, when the surgeon followed the normal protocol and prescribed a blood thinner to prevent clots she almost bled to death from internal bleeding (she did not want to bother any of the rehab nurses about the blood in her stool for 3 days.
My mother's doctor wishes I weren't there! He treats what I say superfuously, and as if I am going "over the line" when I ask about symptoms or treatment, My mother has a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment and her memory and confusion under stress are increasing, yet he dismisses the idea of medication. My mother does not want to change doctors, Then What?
Hugs bosco2blessed