Make the most of your 15 minutes: how to make every second of you doctor’s visit count

So you only have 15 minutes with your doctor. Learn to make the most of every second. Try these techniques and see how much time you save - save for clarification and questions.

If you’ve kept up with your "index card system" you’re one step ahead of the game. You can read from the cards or give them to the doctor - the cards have your list of medical problems and your medications.

Keep the symptom diary and write out the list of symptoms, time of onset and any changes since they began. Practice talking about your symptoms ahead of time. Solicit the help of a spouse or friend to listen to you. Have that person practice looking away from you and looking at you so you experience both methods of exposure and you can get more comfortable talking about embarrassing symptoms to another person.

Remember to just list them with minimal conversational tone. That saves a ton of time.

Bring paper and a pencil so that you can take notes as the doctor asks you questions or says things you’re not sure of. Tell the doctor early on that you may need to interrupt to adequately understand what he’s asking of you or what he’s telling you. If you say this and ask "permission", you’ll get off on the right foot. But keep your notes anyway. While you’re waiting for the doctor, jot things down that you think of as you’re sitting there. After the doctor’s been in there, write down questions. Ask the nurses if you have the opportunity when they come in. Ask the nurses how to approach the doctor with questions if they can’t answer them.

Consider bringing a tape recorder- ask the doctor if you can record the encounter so that you don’t have to worry about misinterpreting what he said. Explain that you want your spouse to know what went on and "what the doctor said". You can even make a joke of it with him because I’m sure he’s heard many times before that the patient has problems remembering enough to satisfy the spouse.

Write, write, write. If you have chronic problems, you should get a stenographer’s pad and label that as your doctor pad. Use it to record your symptoms and take it with you to put your notes in. This way it’s always available for reference and you don’t have to worry about small pieces of paper and worrying about losing them.

Stop worrying about whether you’re saying the right thing or not or whether you’re answering questions correctly. Just say what comes to mind. There is no answer the doctor is looking for - he wants to hear what’s going on with you.

Don’t worry about whether the doctor looks at your or seems friendly. This will distract you from the purposes of your visit - to relay your symptoms accurately and succinctly and to receive information back. That should be your only focus.

Focusing on these two purposes will help you make the most of your time - those precious 15 minutes will seem a lot longer.

Hope this helps!