Patient advocacy really just means a patient
speaking up for what they need and being informed about health,
their own personal health, and then about the disease process
that they're seeking care for.
And a lot of that education happens at the office.
But when you come to a new patient visit, being an advocate means
knowing what you want from a particular provider
that you're seeing, knowing what's happened previously
in terms of other diagnostic workup, you've had done other medications,
you've taken other medical problems you have treatment for,
and what other physicians are involved in your care
and relaying that to the provider. It means coming
with a list of questions that you want answered
and an explanation for what your expectations are when you're coming.
Everyone has a goal for what they want from the provider,
whether it's a diagnosis or a treatment plan or more education
about what they can do outside of office visits or outside of medication.
And coming to a visit prepared and ready to speak on that really enables
the provider to gives you the best options that are perfect
for your condition.
When you come in prepared to talk about what you need from a provider interaction,
it increases the likelihood that you get a specific diagnosis.
So if I know more about what you're experiencing and what's been done,
I have more information to make an accurate distinction.
So, it may be the difference between me labeling you as headache, which is really
just a symptom, and saying, 'Oh no, you have chronic migraine'
which has its own set of treatment options
that's really specific to that diagnosis.
So, having a specific diagnosis improves your opportunity
for getting better and having effective medications.
The other is that I think
advocating for yourself helps
you get the care you need faster outside of the clinic room.
So, one part of advocacy is knowing the limits of your health insurance plan.
So, you knowing what the benefits are and what your,
for example, drug formulary
is, can make the difference between when you go to the pharmacy and them say,
'I'm sorry, you can't have that now we're waiting on X, Y and Z to happen'
versus you getting a medication and leaving
and be able to start treatment effectively.
And patients who know that and can ask the right questions,
you know, have more success in treatment.
In my clinic in particular, we try to give you information
before your visit with an intake packet,
which is a questionnaire essentially that gives you
all of the lists of information that we need from you to make it
the most successful visit and many specialty
providers have something like that, and that's accessible to patients.
Prior to the visit, for example, ours is available online.
Many other providers may mail it to you ahead of time,
but taking time to sit down and reflect on that
the day before or a week before the actual visit,
rather than the morning of or in the waiting room, I think gives
you more of an understanding of what the what the provider is looking for.
And so you can come prepared
because it may mean getting records from another physician
who's in a different health system, other imaging results, a list of medications
you had from the pharmacy that you tried previously, that you no longer take.
So, there's a little bit of homework involved, but doing that ahead of time
really makes the best use of the time that you have one on one with the provider.
And I think just sets the tone that you're thinking about what you want to say
and what you want to ask before you're in the room and on the spot.
Because many of us just you have a whole bunch of things going on in your life.
And then you remember with a calendar pop up on your phone.
I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow.
Oh, yeah, I made that three months ago. What was it for?
Oh, yes.
And that's where you start the visit is that I just remembered I'm
supposed to be here.
And you haven't really thought critically
about what you wanted to say.
And it may come to you after the moment has passed, after
you've left the room and the week following.
And then you think, Oh, I missed my chance.
I think when patients are really afflicted by a disease process,
oftentimes there are other people involved in their care spouses,
loved ones, family members, maybe professional caregivers.
And those are great people to have as a part of the conversation.
If they're not physically in the room with you,
in modern technology,
they can be on a smartphone and be facetiming or zooming into the
into the provider encounter and be a part of the conversation.
And I think that's helpful
even when patients may not view themselves as being too sick
to have other people involved in their care,
but to get another set of ears who are also hearing what
the provider says.
So, I think you see the influence of patient advocacy in
creating conversation about disease process and really
making known what is important to patients.
So, if you think migraine really is disabling and affects your life
and you can't go to work or you can't complete your schoolwork,
or it's affecting your ability to parent, but no one knows about it,
no one invests the time and energy to make that experience better.
I think having a voice really creates recognition.