by Linda Joyce

Created on: April 06, 2009   Last Updated: October 23, 2009

Have you ever gone to the doctor, driven home, and then remembered an important question you had forgotten to ask?

Having done this a few times myself, I decided I needed to be more prepared before I even stepped into the waiting room.

I don't know how your doctor's practice works, but in mine, after waiting in the reception area, you are shown to an examining room where you wait a few minutes (at the very least) to see the doctor.

When they come in the room, they immediately turn on their laptop and start to verbally fling information at you. In one sense, this is a good thing because they can quickly update your file with needed changes. Because the total time spent in the exam room now averages about ten minutes, most of it is spent exchanging information in this manner, with a very small amount of time spent by the doctor on an actual exam.

Whether or not that's how your doctor works, my point is that now more than ever because office visits have become so short, it is your responsibility to prepare in advance. With that in mind, I offer the following suggestions to help you make the most of the time spent with your doctor:

1. If you are seeing a new doctor, when you make the appointment, ask them to send you the paper work to fill out at home.

If this is possible, you can fill in the blanks using your medical records at home at your leisure. This beats sitting in the waiting room and trying to remember what year you had that last tetanus shot or who in your extended family has heart problems.

Also, if you have your medical records from your former doctor, write yourself a reminder to take them along to your appointment. If you don't have them, you will have to fill out a release form that will allow your new doctor's office to obtain them.

2. Take a list of all medications, and even vitamins and/or herbs, you take on a regular basis, together with the dosage and how often you take them.

This is crucial for a first visit. After the initial visit, if there are any changes made, you will need to update your list. It's also a good idea to keep a copy of it in your wallet, in case you have an emergency and land in the hospital. They will need to know what you are taking, and you may not be in any condition to tell them.

3. Make a list of all questions and concerns you have.

This includes things such as whether or not your medication can be changed to a generic one; the pain you've had in your shoulder for the past four weeks, etc.

4. If new prescriptions are

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