That age old saying an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure is very true. There are many steps to take in working towards wellness (eating right, exercise, getting adequate sleep, wearing your seat belt, to name a few) and I will be addressing some of them in other post. But, one of the greatest asset in your overall wellness is you primary care practitioner. Today that can be anyone from a licensed medical doctor, a physician’s assistant, a nurse practitioner or a doctor of homeopathic medicine.
You primary practitioner is like command central…he/she is the person that monitors your health over your lifetime and would be the one who might identify changes that might signal the onset of illness or disease.
There are several vital things to consider as you set out to choose who this person will be.
First solicit recommendations from family member s and friends. They are a great resource to gather the names and locations of potential people as you compose your list. Now you begin the process to narrow down the list. Most people want their practitioner either to be close to their home or close to their place of work. Consider the office hours of operation; are they convenient to fit into your schedule? Another big one for me is parking. What is the parking situation? Is there ample street parking? If you must utilize a garage for parking, is it free? If there is a charge for parking, does the office validate? You now have a list consisting of probably two to three names. Does the practitioner accept your health insurance, and in the case of PPO are they in network or out of network. It is advisable at the time you make your appointment to get verification of coverage from the staff person making your appointment.
(This is something you might want to do routinely on subsequent visits-from a person experience I made an appointment with a physician that I had been seeing for year only to find out when I got to the office he no longer accepted my insurance and I would be billed out of network charges).
But…you are not quite ready to make that first appointment. There are a few more things to investigate before making your final decision. It is advisable to make a test run to the office. This is where you can really decide if you would like to choose this individual as your primary health practitioner. You ask…why the visit…to do an observation of how the office is run. Does it appear that it is relatively easy to get an appointment in a timely matter? Is the office staff friendly, attentive and organized? How many times does the phone ring before someone answers? Are there people in the office who seem to be waiting long periods of time? What conversations are you hearing while in the waiting area…are they positive or complaints?
Now if the office meets your expectations, make that first appointment. From this point it is now a partnership, your practitioner does part by providing the best care based on their knowledge and you doing your part to live a lifestyle that promotes wellness.
Posted By: Belinda Anderson
Thursday, September 25th 2008 at 8:04PM
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