Daily HealthBeat Tip - October 08, 2007

Talk with the doc

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

Making sure you and your doctor understand each other is important. But that’s not easy, especially if – for instance – you feel shy, you have to talk about something that feels intensely private, or you forget something. How to get past those communications problems?

The National Institute on Aging and the National Library of Medicine have developed some tips, which they list on the NIH’s SeniorHealth Web site. It’s called ``Talking with Your Doctor.’’

Dr. Judith Salerno is deputy director of the National Institute on Aging:

``Make lists of the questions that you might have for your physician. Remember that your time with your physician is valuable time and may be very limited, so cut down on the small talk and get to the point of what is important for you and your doctor to discuss.’’ (15 seconds)

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: May, 26 2008