Expert Gives Tips On How To Prepare For Doctor Visit

By John Ostapkovich

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – By the time you're sick enough to see the doctor, it may be too late to figure out how to get the most out of that visit. But there is something you can do about it now!

Your physician may be under financial pressure to move patients through, or dazzled by new technology, but Leana Wen, a Boston E-R doctor, reminds us in When Doctors Don't Listen, that you'll be better off if communicating well. Another drawback is the paradigm.

"The doctor is the parent role. The patient is the child," Dr. Wen explains.

In order to change that, the book actually has exercises to practice before you need them and advice on looking past a physician's wall of degrees.

"A doctor wants to involve you as an equal partner in your care, and it's critical to have someone who doesn't see you as a nuisance. I mean, you're the patient. You actually know more about your body than anyone else," says Dr. Wen.

She says the book rose out of the death of her mother, who simply couldn't get doctors to take her symptoms seriously until it was too late.