05 Apr 4 Tips for a Rock-Solid Relationship with Your Pain Doctor
We take great pride in being highly recommended pain management doctors in the Weatherford area. We also take the responsibility of providing top-notch care very seriously. Your relationship with your pain doctor is one part of your treatment. Kepping that in mind, one of our main goals is to establish rock-solid relationships with our patients so that they can benefit from the care we provide.
As always, relationships are a two-way street. We encourage our patients to do their part to maintain solid relationships with not only us, but all the doctors, nurses, and therapists they work with. To that end, we have put together a list of eight tips that we hope you will consider. Four of the tips are in this post; the other four will be discussed in a second post.
1. Utilize Technology as Much as Possible
We understand that not all our patients are tech-savvy. Nonetheless, we have implemented technology to make your experience more efficient and more adaptable to your needs. For example, our patient portal gives you access to a ton of information without having to make a phone call. You can use the patient portal to:
- schedule and review upcoming visits
- review billing information
- fill out necessary forms
- review your prescriptions.
The patient portal lets you manage your own healthcare, to a certain degree, on your own schedule and according to whatever is most convenient for you. Meanwhile, it frees up our pain doctors and office staff to spend as much time with patients as possible.
2. Prepare for Your Visits
Our second tip is to prepare for your visits before you actually arrive. What does this mean? It could mean any number of things based on your reason for coming in. Perhaps you have specific questions about your care plan. Maybe you are concerned about a past treatment or some of the medications you are taking. The whole idea of preparing is to think about what you want to discuss in advance. Feel free to write things down, too. Our pain doctors will not be offended by seeing you pull out a long list of questions.
3. Be Cognizant of Your Doctor’s Time
Doctors make every effort to spend as much time as necessary with each patient. But understand that your pain doctor cannot give all the day’s attention to you. Other patients are waiting to be seen. We do not want to shuffle you through quickly by any means, but we do ask this much: that you be cognizant of your doctor’s time by prioritizing your needs.
While you are preparing for your visit, write down what you want to talk about in order of importance. Get through the first few items on your list to start. If you still have time, then talk about the less important things. Just understand that you might not have time to cover them all.
4. Bring a Family Member or Friend
If you feel your office visit would go better by bringing a family member or friend, by all means do so. That family member or friend might be able to answer questions that you are not sure of. A person might also be able to write down information on your behalf, just in case you forget to do so.
We want you to have the best relationship possible with your pain doctor. We will do everything in our power to make sure that this happens. We encourage you to do the same by considering these four tips. And don’t forget, we discuss four more tips in another blog post. Be sure to check back and read it.
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