I have had the unfortunate experience of seeing clients who should have changed doctors earlier than they did. They wanted to see what was going on with their health and they stuck by their doctor. Which is admirable but were they getting better?
They went to their visits , saw their doctor and perhaps there was some improvement but not enough improvement for the amount of time and visits.
Need for a Different Approach
What should be things to consider when realizing there’s a need for a different approach? I think it boils down to health improvement, timing, and disagreement. There may be other factors but let’s deal with those first.
If a person is seeing a healthcare person and their health is not improving , that should be something to watch out for. Does that mean that health will be better every visit?
That would be great - but it rarely happens that way. A person’s course of improvement may be like a roller coaster with ups and downs. If the path of improvement has been staying the same for several visits, that’s mildly concerning.
Or if it’s steadily going down despite medical interventions that is more concerning. That might be a sign to consider changing healthcare provider.
I find that it usually takes 2-3 visits to get a handle on what’s going on with a person and get movement in their health issue. So if someone has been going to a healthcare provider for 4 visits and doesn’t see much change or doesn’t have much confidence in the path forward, that may be something to think about. Is the number of 4 visits absolute?
Unfortunately, life is not black and white - so 4 visits isn’t absolute. Ask the healthcare provider what they think the number of visits should be before they would expect to see changes. And see if that’s correct.
If a person is continuing with a healthcare provider, that means there’s some fit between the provider and the client. But if there's a disagreement about the path forward then it may be time to part ways.
Or maybe there's a disagreement about the treatment - antibiotics versus herbals, treating based on symptoms or labs,how fast things are moving.
As a person goes on a health journey, they should evaluate their health as well as the person guiding their health journey. And if the health journey isn't going as well as it should, perhaps it may be a time of when to consider a new doctor.
I hope the above was helpful, anything else you want to add?
If you have a question about this blog post or anything medical-related, please email me thru the button below.
To your health!
Dr. Richard Chen
Focused Wellness Author,
A New Way to Health: Wheel of Health
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