Prepare for your doctor’s appointment
If you have a doctor’s appointment soon, arriving at the surgery well prepared can help the doctor, while also giving you more input into the healthcare you receive. Use our sample questions to prepare for your appointment, and take a look at our tips for any time you visit a doctor.
Use these tips in every conversation with a doctor
- If the doctor uses any medical terms that are unfamiliar to you, ask him or her to explain. ‘I didn’t understand all of that. What did you mean by... ?’Listen carefully and then, in your own words, summarise what the doctor said. Doing this is a good way to check if you have understood it all correctly.
- If you still do not understand, do not be afraid to keep on asking until you do.
- Take someone with you to the appointment: this way you are more likely to catch everything the doctor says. Or you could perhaps ask the doctor if you can record the consultation with your mobile phone.
- If you have more questions, but you get the feeling that the doctor does not have enough time to answer these, let him or her know. Perhaps your doctor will allow you some more time, or maybe you can make another appointment, for a consultation by telephone for example. As a CZ customer, you are also entitled to consult with an independent medical specialist.
- Make sure you understand what to expect from the appointment so that you do not find out, for example, that you will just be talking to an assistant while you thought you would be having a consultation with the doctor. You can also prepare better if you know what to expect.