As a patient, you are most likely always looking for ways to get the most out of your doctor’s appointments. Whether you are meeting with your primary care physician or a specialist, you should focus on gleaning the most information possible from your appointments. With many doctors using remote patient monitoring vendors to do telehealth visits during the pandemic, it is important that you understand how to make the most of a virtual visit. Consider these tips for how to do it well.
Sign on Early
If your doctor is using remote patient monitoring companies and tells you that you will be having a telehealth visit, there are a few questions that you should ask. First of all, how will you log on to your appointment? Will you need any type of password or special login credentials? On the day of your appointment, try to sign into your appointment a little bit early. The last thing you need is to have technical difficulties that cause you to miss your appointment slot in the doctor’s busy day.
Write Down Your Questions
When you get to any type of doctor’s appointment (in-person or virtual), it can be easy to forget all of the questions that you were going to ask. You can help avoid this by writing down any questions that you have ahead of time. Write them down as you think of them so that you will not forget anything. This will also help you be faster asking questions during your appointment so that you can get the most out of the time you have with your physician.
Ask for Written Instructions for Care
When you are only given a few minutes with your doctor, it can be easy to forget everything that he or she had to say. You can ask for an email of written instructions so that you will have the information on hand whenever you need to reference it. This is especially important if your doctor has prescribed any new medications or treatment regimens. It never hurts to have a written plan of what you are supposed to do so that you do not get your instructions confused.
Telehealth visits are not likely to go away anytime soon, so it is essential that patients learn how to make the most of them. Consider these tips for making your appointment as efficient and informative as it can be.