How to Partner with Your PCP for Optimal Care

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In the last article, we spoke about the various types of healthcare providers:

Family Medicine Physician

Internist

General Practitioner

OB-Gyn

Nurse Practitioner and

Pediatrician

We also learned how to narrow down the list of providers to find the perfect one for you.

I am curious to know about your experience with healthcare providers. Send me your comments!

If you are currently looking for health insurance or need to change your health insurance, schedule a free discovery call.

We now offer quick 15 minute sessions to help you narrow down the confusing array of health insurance options.

In this article, we will learn how to talk to and partner with our Primary Care Provider in order to receive the best care.

After reading today’s episode you will understand how to overcome white coat syndrome and how to partner with your healthcare provider.

I will start by telling you about a time my Daddy pulled over a school bus. Both of my Parents are retired Police Officers. Today they spend their days in service to the community as substitute teachers.

Our discussion today is not meant to treat or diagnose any particular disease and it should not substitute qualified medical advice.

As a child my sister and I were chauffeured around in the back seat of police cruisers by our parents.

When I was in middle school, my Momma worked overnight and came home as my sister and I went to school.

My Daddy would prep to go to court in the morning to serve subpoenas for the people he arrested.

It took a solid 15 minutes to walk to the school bus each morning. Not only did we have a back pack, lunch and breakfast. We also lugged around our instruments as well. I carried a flute which isnt the largest instrument but it was a lot for me.

My sister played the french horn which of course was much more of a challenge to carry it as we traveled to and from the bus every morning and afternoon.

Consequently, every now and again my sister and I did not make it to the school bus on time. so we would have to walk back home, another 15 minutes, so our Dad could rush us into school before he went to court.

On those days, I personally thought it was great. We all rode together in the cruiser. My sister and I would take turns sitting in the front seat.

I felt like it was the perfect family time and only one thing would have made it better, a short trip in the drive thru of Mcds for breakfast and everything would have been excellente!

By riding in the cruiser, my Sister and I avoided the noise of the school bus, we arrived at school relaxed with the stop at Mcds we would all have full bellies.

My Dad on the other hand, had a diff ideal. He felt rushed in the morning when he brought us to school before going to court. There was this part where we sat in rush hour traffic for a little while, but it seemed like such a minor detail to me.

On one of those days that we missed the bus, rather than get upset with us, he simply outsmarted our best efforts at the impromptu family time.

Daddy, we missed the bus, your going to have to take us to school, we announced one morning. We did our best to sound upset about the whole thing, after all, it was an inconvenience to him.

Quickly he shepherded us into the police cruiser. This was unusual, he didn’t finish putting on his Police uniform like he normally would in the past.

Next, he drove along the bus route and to our shock and horror, he hunted the bus down, turned on his police lights and pulled the bus over!

We were plastered in our seats, thinking to ourselves, what is he doing?

No one moved, we just sat there, holding our breath, in total embarrassment and complete silence.

The bus patiently sat, pulled over on the side of the road. Every single window on the bus was pulled down. Each window was accompanied by a childs’ head hanging out of it.

There were audible sounds and statements of oooohhhhh, the bus drivers’ getting pulled over!

I sat there, blinking my eyes.

If there was ever a time that I wished I could just disappear, it was right then and there.

At a very minimum, it would have been nice to have a paper bag to put over my head so no one knew who I was.

My Dad noticed we were not moving.

He commanded, get out of the car, I’ve got to get to work.

Hold on, I thought, wait a second, I cannot believe he just pulled over the bus driver.

What about our impromptu family time together?

To encourage us, he unlocked the doors. With the click of the doors unlocking, we reluctantly opened the car door and ran to get on the bus.

Maybe they cant tell who it is if we run.

The bus driver looked like they were about to have a heart attack b/c they thought they had a moving violation and were about to rcv a ticket and possibly lose their job.

All the kids on the bus definitely had their share of excitement for the day.

Consequently, my Sister and I dropped the idea of impromptu family time and learned to never miss the school bus again, like ever, seriously.

Fear of authority figures runs deep in the veins of every person.  It develops during our childhood and later feels cemented into our lives as adults.

In healthcare, this fear is referred to as white coat syndrome. When someone dons a white coat, we take them more seriously, in our eyes they become more knowledgeable and unconsciously we slip into a role of obedience and obeisance.

The Milgram experiment conducted at Yale in 1961 demonstrated the power we unnecessarily  assign to a lab coat and others in authority.

During this experiment, no one was harmed. It involved participants who were given the title of teacher, student and an experimenter who wore a white lab coat.

During the experiment the teacher was told to shock the student if  they provided the wrong answer.

The voltage of the shock was increased each time the answer was wrong and the consequent staged screams, pleas and protests of the student increased accordingly.

The experimenter in the lab coat encourage the teacher to continue to administer these shocks with the increased amt of voltage despite the accompaniment of increased amt of please and protests 

The Milgram experiment demonstrated the power and authority we assign to a person in a lab coat and to people in authority.

As a result, we trust, nod, feel honored and privileged in the presence of authority.

This behavior can impact our ability to speak up or challenge a plan that has been established w/o our full understanding.

In French there is a saying:

L’habit ne fait pas le moine.

The robe does not make the monk.

Our need is to talk to providers as if they are regular people, not as an authority figure.

When the provider walks in to ask how are you?

Instead of saying, I’m fine, try:

I am a little frazzled because I rushed here from work. I am a high school teacher and we are coming to the end of the school year so things are starting to get hectic.

or you may want to say:

My dog is in the vet, I hope he is going to be alright.

This will help the provider by giving them context to who you are as a person.

Your provider may have kids in high school or perhaps they may be fellow a fur parent as well.

Questions play a unique role in improving the care you receive.

Studies show that questions are not just about asking for information, they give the provider an insight into your worldview.

A medical appointment can feel like a job interview at times.

It goes something like this:

Exchange of pleasantries

Question and answer session

Another exchange of pleasantries

Our goal is to make the visit more than a few comments about the weather, a brief synopsis of your health and a take care now, tau tau!

The encounter with your provider should have more of the organic characteristics of a proper conversation.

Questions and answers exchanged by patient and doctor early on incite more understanding on the part of the physician and greater trust on the part of the patient.

In turn this opens the channels of communication which can later provide clues essential to diagnosis and the most beneficial treatment.

Here are a few examples of questions to ask your provider:

Why do you say X and not Y?

What would it feel like if I were experiencing X?

What is the plan when I walk out the door today after this appointment?

If the providers line of thinking confuses you, ask them to explain.

We don’t need to ask questions to fill space or sound intelligent.

We simply want to ask questions so that our provider can provide better care, better diagnosis and the most beneficial tx.

When the provider gives us instructions, new Rx, referrals to specialists or for lab work and tests, we may want to ask ourselves:

What is the problem being addressed in terms of our health?

What do I need to do about it now?

Why is it important that I do this?

What comes next?

If you don’t have an answer to these questions ask the provider to elaborate and give more detail.

It can be helpful to have a notebook to write down their response.

During your medical appointment it can be helpful also to establish your identity by sharing stories that celebrate who you are.

Include those who are important in your life.

Stories remind people that you are human. This will incite more investment in you by your medical staff and increase the likelihood that you will rcv patient centered care.

Patient centered care takes into consideration each symptom, condition or illness in context to the pieces of your life that you share.

Partnering with providers can be a challenge for us all.

We can plan our visits ahead of time by creating a health journal to keep track of the concerns about our health.

In the journal, we can list questions to ask the provider and use the journal to take notes during the visit.

We are able to go beyond the job interview style of our medical appts and share relevant stories to help us rcv better patient centered care.

Care that takes into consideration our symptoms, our condition or illness in the context of the life that we share with our providers.

In the next article, we will dive even deeper into this topic as we learn how to be a patient.

This is Barbara, I am yours in health. Let me help you navigate the amazing world of health insurance.

Remember Every day can be a healthy day!