These days, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and powerless when you’re a patient or an emotionally invested family member. On the other hand, there has never been a more important time to take control of your health or the health of a loved one. With the cost of medications, medical care, and healthcare insurance on the rise, an ounce of prevention can go a long way towards preserving your health and retirement nest egg.
Although innovation provides many benefits, it also makes decision-making more complex. Empowering patients and their families throughout the process is a must. To accomplish this, they have to make sure to be both attentive to the information they receive while also remaining vigilant during periods when they are receiving care. Both aspects are essential to making better-informed decisions. When your goal is empowering yourself by receiving the best care possible, here’s how to make it happen.
How to Be Vigilant
Practicing vigilance as a patient in today’s fast-paced medical world takes these steps:
Ask direct questions.
First, learn all you can from your healthcare providers by asking them specific questions. Don’t be afraid to ask about the benefits, side effects, and disadvantages of a recommended medication or procedure. Thoroughly research your or your loved one’s condition, along with any prescribed procedures and medications.
Bring along an advocate.
Processing all the medical information by yourself can be overwhelming at times. To assist you, ask someone who can process the data and ask intelligent questions to join you on your next appointment, like a close family member or trusted friend. If none are available, hire a private care manager as an advocate to coordinate all aspects of the support needed, including health, financial, housing, transportation, and legal.
Get a second opinion.
In situations when it is warranted, for example, when you or your provider feel uncertain, it’s perfectly fine to get a second opinion from another doctor. Good doctors welcome confirmation of a diagnosis and encourage their patients to learn. If your doctor is trying to discourage you from getting another opinion, consider doing it anyway while evaluating whether or not this relationship is the right one for you.
Embrace new communication technologies.
Today’s technologies allow the healthcare community to share information in real-time thanks to innovations like electronic medical records and secure patient portals. In a COVID-19 world, communication advancements like telehealth (also called telemedicine) have become widespread virtually overnight. Since those “virtual” patient communication tools are here to stay, embrace, and take full advantage of them.
Download a healthcare app. (or two).
Nowadays, healthcare apps can make the process of empowering patients a lot easier. Much like communication technology, empowering yourself by having your medical information literally in the palm of your hand will allow you to work as a team with your doctor and other healthcare providers.
The pros of downloading a health care app. onto your smartphone or tablet include the ability to reduce your risk for medical errors while efficiently managing your medications – both of which ultimately improve your overall quality of life. Health care apps range from simple to complex, so do your research first to ensure that all your goals are being met.
Empowering Patients So They Can Continue Thriving at Home
If you’d like to learn more about how to help yourself or a loved one take control of their medical care, read the book Thriving at Home: A Handbook for Preventing Hospital Stays by Dave Tasto. For more information about how to obtain a copy of Dave’s book, visit www.thrivingathomehealth.com.
Quality Care for Seniors Who Choose to Thrive at Home
Helping an aging loved one thrive at home can be hard when you have a household to manage or live far away. When you need some assistance, contact Assisting Hands Home Care. While proudly serving seniors and families in communities Northwest of Boston, Assisting Hands provides professional in-home health services that allow our clients to remain safely and comfortably in their own homes.
From a few hours a day to around the clock, our client-centered services include respite care, personal care, hospice care, Alzheimer’s and dementia care, Parkinson’s support, and Veteran’s support. At Assisting Hands, we deliver quality home care you can trust! To learn more about our dependable caregivers now or to schedule a consultation for a senior in our service area today, please visit us at Assisting Hands of Boston Northwest.
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