Susan Payrovi, MD, explains how patients can make the most of a neurology appointment with proper preparation.
Transcript
I love it when patients show up with information that they want to share with me because that helps set the agenda for the appointment.
What’s not helpful is a five-page written letter to me that I have to sit there and read in this short period of time, take in the information, figure out how to make recommendations based on it. So if you can come in with either a simple list of questions or a chart of your symptoms, even if it’s like your calendar from home, and the information is shared in bite-sized pieces, it’s brief.
It’s not paragraphs. That’s really helpful because I, as a physician, have to move fast. I have to take in a lot of information, analyze it, and figure out what needs to happen next.
So if I can just quickly scan and understand the patterns you’re trying to show me, that’s actually really helpful. And if you show up to an appointment like that with me — actually saves us time because now I know what’s important to you. And we’re going to address that thing that’s top of mind for you.
And also, you might want to send that information in previous to the appointment so the doctor has a chance to review it. Sometimes that works; sometimes it doesn’t. But you can try and see if you can buy yourself that extra time during the appointment if they’ve already seen the information.
Most neurology practices have nurses and physicians assistants who are great. They’re very knowledgeable.
In fact, you might be seeing them instead of the neurologist sometimes. And sometimes, if you ask, you can actually just meet with those individuals to see if they can kind of help you work through some of the patterns and tracking of information that you’re trying to share.
So don’t forget about the the entire team, which can actually help relay that information to the physician as well.
