Monday, February 3, 2014

The Reasoning Behind the “Dreaded” Follow-Up Form


Imagine you planned a fancy evening at a well known, highly acclaimed five star restaurant.  You told the waitress you wanted a steak but refused to tell her the type of cut you desired or how you wanted your meat prepared.  The chef could give his/her best guess at what your preferences are, but in many ways he/she would be flying blind, so to speak. 

And I’m almost certain you would never do this! In order to have the best restaurant experience you know you would have to give the chef some clues, some extra information, in order to get the best result. It is the same with our doctors here.  Dr. Chimes and Dr. Hyman have spent years training, practicing and meticulously designing the method in which they treat their patients, the one that garners the highest success rate. They have both found that having their patients fill out a follow-up form, allows them to have the proper “clues” they need to give the best care possible. In other words, this follow-up form allows them to “cook you the best steak”. 

Many patients believe that just because they filled out the form a couple weeks prior means that nothing could have changed since their last visit and another form would prove inconsequential.  That, however, is often not the case.  If one is experiencing pain, it can manifest itself in different ways and in different areas of the body and these changes can be discreet. Filling out the form as completely and honestly as possible allows the doctors to detect any changes that at first may appear insignificant but to the trained eye may hold some deeper truths.

Of course, in the end, the choice lies with the patient about whether or not the form will be filled out.  Just remember, leaving out this information will impinge the doctors in the same way not mentioning you like your steak well-done will impinge even the best chef.  We want you to have a five star experience at Lake Washington Sports & Spine and it starts with that (no longer) dreaded follow-up form!

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