Divulging information

Hello readers,

Thanks for the feedback. I enjoyed receiving your mail on the topic of remembering the names of your medication.

Today, we’re going to talk about another sensitive topic that happens in most doctors practices. This has to do with divulging information. Lots of times when people are asked to fill out forms, it’s not because we want to know your business. It’s mostly because we want to stay in touch and because we want information that can help us with our diagnosis.{{more}}

You would be surprised how such information could be helpful. For instance, apart from the medical history, a person’s profession, place of work or residential address might shed some light on the symptoms they are having.

Sometimes patients want to lie about their age. This happens more to women than to men, but it happens nevertheless. This is mostly because of our culture, where aging is seen to be a negative thing. The problem here, though, is that when we give the wrong age to the doctor, it can affect the whole clinical picture, and can deter the doctor from arriving at his or her diagnosis quickly.

We are always looking for extra information to hone in on the diagnosis. For instance, in ophthalmology, people around age 40, tend to need multi-focal lenses. So, if someone is approaching 40 and has to hold their reading material at arms length to see properly. Suppose they give us an age of, say 32. Even though we may think that they need multifocal lenses, we might hesitate, feeling that it may be too early and might even advise them to hold out for a bit or worse yet, go on a wild goose chase to find out why such a young person needs such lenses. This is but one of many examples. So, always strive to give accurate details when you visit your doctor. It might save your eyes and your health.

Have a great weekend

Dr Kenneth Onu is a resident Consultant Ophthalmologist at the Beachmont Eye Institute/Eyes R Us.
Send questions to: Beachmont@gmail.com
Tel: 784 456-1210