Almost everyone has a worry or two when visiting a health provider. What if a test finds something wrong? Will treatment be painful? What if the provider doesn't take the time to listen?
Mayo Clinic providers welcome your worry list. Watch 4 of these experts share the ways they help nervous patients feel at ease.
We asked Mayo Clinic experts: How do you help your patients manage their health worries?
Amy E. Rabatin, M.D.: I ask, frank, you know, straight out to my patients and parents, "What's on your worry list?" If we don't know what they're worrying about, then we can't help that worry.
Timothy I. Morgenthaler, M.D.: I try to ask patients, you know, "What's the reason that we're meeting today? What's the most important thing to you?"
The most common worries are either that I'm not going to really understand their problem, that I'm not really going to take time to listen to them, or that I'm going to give them a cookie-cutter answer to their problems without really taking into account what their goals of therapy are.
Jennifer J. Rand, R.N.: I think it's easier for patients to talk to the nurse. They spend a lot more time with their nurse. The most common worry is just the unknown. Things they think of after their doctor leaves or things that they don't understand. If they can bring them up to me or their family members can, then I can ask the doctors what they think or what their recommendation is.
Melissa K. Erdman, P.A.-C.: Probably the most common worry that our patients have before surgery is either pain or death actually. When it comes to heart surgery, patients, even though we have such amazing technology, and many times heart surgery is actually low risk, patients are still afraid of not making it through surgery.
We want to hear your concerns. We want to know what you're thinking. Discussing the risks, the benefits, the choices that they have can all be helpful.
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