Asking the Right Questions to Get the Most Out of Your Healthcare

If you want to get the most out of your healthcare, it’s important to be well informed about any treatments or medicines your doctor recommends. That means asking questions – and writing them down so you don’t forget. This page is designed to help you think about the questions you need to ask, and helps you remember them so you can take them with you to your appointment.

As medical consumers demand access to credible, consistent and reliable health information on the Internet, it becomes imperative that all healthcare organizations communicate patient data in a manner that is accessible to other providers, thereby enabling truly interoperable care. Query-based exchange is the cornerstone of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology’s Interoperability Roadmap and a core capability of several networks already implementing it.

Despite the high percentage of advice-seeking search engine queries reported in The Pew Internet Project13,14 survey, examination of large-scale commercial web query logs reveals that medical or health searching represents only a small portion of general Internet searching. Moreover, users do not reformulate their queries extensively to express medical or health intent. Instead, most simply name a medical term (e.g., AIDS or flu) or a generic problem-related term (e.g., weight problems or headache).

To evaluate medical or health-related Web query intent, the authors used a combination of qualitative analysis and automated text analysis to classify each query. A Web query was considered to be medical or health related if strong evidence of intent was present: a term with medical or healthcare meaning, a context that supports the intention of seeking medical/health information, and a query-related url that contained a clinical reference.

Medical websites are rated for quality by the URAC accreditation process, the ‘Health on the Net’ logo program and the HI Ethics project. The quality of healthcare websites is also monitored through the AMA’s Medical Website Certification Program.

Sharing Healthcare Advice With Your Providers

Ideally, you would get all of your healthcare advice from qualified health professionals. Unfortunately, that is not always possible or feasible. You may also be able to find information on your own, either by asking your doctor or researching online. There are many factors to consider when evaluating online information. For example, who owns the website? How current is the information? Is it written by a health professional or a large organization (like a university, hospital, or a medical society) that oversees its content?

When choosing a health plan, remember to look at the monthly premiums and out-of-pocket costs. High out-of-pocket costs can quickly wipe out the savings of a lower monthly premium.

Your doctors are generally trying their best to provide you with optimal medical advice, but it is difficult for one person to keep up with all the latest knowledge and research. Plus, they can become stuck in practice habits that are not necessarily in your best interest.

As a result, you have a right to make decisions about your medical treatment. The goal of sharing decision-making with your providers is to give you the opportunity to fully understand all available medical treatment options, including their benefits and risks, and help you choose the best option for you. Talk with your provider about the most appropriate shared decision-making tools for you.

What does it mean when a doctor says ‘Against medical advice’?

Sometimes providers will recommend that you see a specialist or go to the ER. This can be a tough decision to make, especially when it is an urgent recommendation. But you do have the right to refuse medical advice. Your health care provider will respect your choice, even if it is against their recommendations.

If you are hesitant to seek the opinion of another health professional, ask your doctor about his or her concerns. They can explain the reasoning behind their recommendation, and they can also help you weigh the pros and cons of going against it. You may also want to talk with a trusted friend or family member about your decision.

In addition, it is important to understand that medical advice can be distinguished from medical information. Discussing facts and information is a fundamental free speech right, but giving specific advice about your own individual situation is considered medical malpractice, unless it is done in the context of a doctor-patient relationship under specified circumstances.

No online information, even if it is trustworthy and evidence-based, can replace seeing a health care professional for a thorough evaluation of your unique situation and the recommendation for the best course of action. When you are gathering healthcare advice, question dramatic writing and promises of cures that sound too good to be true. Also be sure to evaluate the source of the information and how current it is. You can often tell by looking at the date when the information was created and reviewed. Also look for sites that reference trustworthy sources, like reputable government agencies and medical schools, and large professional organizations.