How you communicate with your doctor impacts your health. It can even make a difference between life and death. But it can be hard. Your doctor may use medical terms you can’t understand. And with time-squeezed appointments, doctors often rush and/or interrupt patients. Moreover, when you’re dealing with a serious health condition, you feel stressed […]
Managing Healthcare
Does Your Doctor’s Age Matter?
As I age, doctors somehow get younger and younger. I swear that I have seen doctors as young as Doogie Howser (note – if you don’t get this reference, you are young enough that doctors seem old to you!). On the other hand, I’ve also seen doctors who seem too old to be working at […]
Should You Use a Female Doctor? Does Gender Matter?
Can the gender of your doctor impact your health? Maybe! It turns out that doctor and patient gender can impact the doctor-patient interaction and patient outcomes. In some studies, researchers found that patients of female doctors have better outcomes. And, in general, patients report greater satisfaction with female doctors than male doctors. Should you use […]
What Should You Do When You Get a Cancer Diagnosis?
If you, or a loved one, get a cancer diagnosis, the news is devastating. It’s scary to think about your chances of survival, and it’s scary to think about potential hardships of treatments. Your mind is spinning, and you can barely think straight. There are new medical terms to learn, decisions to make, and so […]
Understanding Medical Information Is Harder Than Most Realize
“You don’t know what you don’t know.” It might be a tired adage, but it readily applies to navigating the medical world. Certainly, you need to understand health information for the best chance of a good outcome. But understanding medical information is harder than most realize. Understanding medical information requires health literacy – the ability […]