Patient Education
Cancers and cardiovascular diseases, mainly heart attacks and strokes,
are the top causes of mortality among Americans and worldwide. The risk
of developing some of these diseases can be predicted to some extent, by
figuring in your current health condition, which can lead to effective
preventive measures. We have included below a few websites that perform
such tasks for you. There are more useful links on our
links page. We at Gresham Internal Medicine
will continually evaluate useful information available on the
web to help you improve your health.
1. Know what needs to be addressed in the visit:
If this is a follow-up appointment, it is usually
for an ongoing problem such as diabetes or hypertension. Review the plan given
by your doctor from last visit (you can request a print-out at the end of visit)
to see what he recommended for you.
If tests are needed before the visit, make
sure they are done 2-3 days before.
If you are to monitor blood glucose
or blood pressure at home, make sure they are logged in a note book
to be brought to the appointment. Recalling those readings solely
based on memory is often inaccurate.
If you are calling to make the appointment,
be sure to let the receptionist know how many and what kinds of problems you
want the doctor to address, since complex or multiple problems do require
more time. Write down what you want to talk about so you don't forget,
especially if you have more than a couple of issues to address.
2. Know what you are taking for medications:
It is of crucial importance that you are taking the exact
medications you are supposed to, and that your doctor knows
exactly what you are taking, including those prescribed by
other doctors. Even if you don't agree with something that
your doctor prescribed and stopped taking it on your own, you
should let him know when and why, and not
hide that information from him.
It is also important that you
know your medications by name and dosage, not just the
"red pill" or the heart pill, since that can easily lead
to confusion. If you are not completely certain, the best
way is to bring all your medications with you for your visit.
When you arrive in the clinic,
check against the printed list of your active medications on our
record (for established patients) to make sure it is correct.
That is generally what your doctor thinks you are taking, with
only a few exceptions where the changes have been made outside
of our clinic (ER visits, consultants, or hospital discharge)
and our record has not been updated for that reason. Alert the
receptionist or medical assistant about any discrepancies.
3. Know what recommendations or orders were made during the visit:
Make sure the questions you have
were addressed. However, due to the limitation of time,
sometimes only some of the more urgent issues will be addressed
during the visit. You may need to make an appointment to come
back for another visit, or even a complete history and physical
examination to have all of your concerns addressed.
Make sure you understand what
treatment was recommended, what was ordered and why. Sometimes
it is helpful to have a family member with you during the visit.
If there are more than just one
or two things ordered, or the medications ordered are for long
term use, make sure you have a summary print-out of your visit;
this will give you the updated list of medications and orders,
so you can refer to it at home. You will pick it up at the check
up window, along with the orders and prescriptions.
If you have questions after
you get home, you can always call us back to clarify!
Contents on this page or any other page of this web site are
intended for education purposes only. You should discuss with
your personal physician for any specific recommendation about your health.
