Archived ContentThe first visit to a new doctors office is a make or break visit. During the visit you will be asked to fill in a new patient questionnaire and then, after waiting for what seem like an eternity, finally get to meet your new doctor.
Pain And Suffering
Pain is the driving factor for most doctors visits. So, you should be able to quickly from head to toe describe all the pain you are having. Location: do you have pain in more than one place? In a slip and fall accident it is common to have back pain and leg pain. Sometimes both legs hurt, and if you hit your head, neck and head pain too.
As to each location (like head, neck, back, arm or leg, break it down into detail. Trauma doctors look for patterns and certain words like burning, stabbing, throbbing, and constant to help them come up with a diagnosis and decide what tests you need, and what prescriptions may be necessary. On a scale of 1-10 be ready to describe the pain you currently have, and pain when the accident happened. Does it keep you awake at night? What aggravates it and what gives you relief?
Describe the Pain Properly
Also, it would be a good idea to bring in a cheat sheet with your pain description and give it to the doctor or his nurse. Lots of times doctors will think you are making up new stuff if there was no complaint about it in your first visit. They are taught to try to decide legitimate complaints from fake ones, and adding new complaints down the road is not a good thing to do. Better to give a shot gun approach!
So, better to cover all the bases and make sure that every painful problem you have is completely brought to your new doctor’s attention!