Need to Know?
Seeing a new doctor for the first time always means paperwork. It’s usually the same set of questions more or less perhaps arranged in a different order. But I encountered a few new ones on a recent new-patient questionnaire.
I was actually quite intrigued with the fact that a doctor might want to know:
What has been your greatest challenge in life?
What has been your greatest disappointment?
What has been your greatest joy?
But then I came to:
Are you sexually active? ___ Sexual preference _______________
The last blank leaves a lot of room for interpretation:
My husband/ someone else’s husband
Hetero/ homo
Any of a variety of positions
No preference -- Would that imply I was bisexual?
I started to wonder what use would be made of the information about my sex life. Would it really inform any decision or make the least bit of difference?
BTW, my husband voted for HETERO.
I suppose I could just leave those questions blank, but I will probably provide answers so as not to get off on the wrong foot with this doctor.
Have you ever encountered questions like any of these?
posted by Barbara at 4:49 PM
12 Comments:
That's new to me.
You could have gotten really creative here.
Reminds me of an old Bloom County comic strip where the character is filling out a Want Ad and writes something like:
"Into jello wrestling, linoleum and turtle wax. No freaks."
:)
I've never seen that before! I suppose there are legitimate medical reasons why such a question would be asked, though. I'd answer it.
Strange set of questions...
I suppose your new doctor wants to establish upfront that he/she cares about his/her patients. Hmmm.
Let's see about answers:
Greatest challenge - answering this questionnaire
Greatest disappointment - that I have to fill out this blankety-blank form
Greatest joy - getting finished with these weird questions
Sexually active - hmmm, are you interested? Or, every chance I get
Sexual preference - Yes
Not as funny as it could be, I tried.
It sounds like your doctor may be doing research and if so s/he needs to inform you of it. Did you ask why there were such odd questions?
My mom still laughs about how she made the doctor drop his jaw when he asked, "Do you smoke?" and she answered, "Well, not _cigarettes_" (implying that she was some big pot smoker!! :::laugh::::)
Each of these do have good reasons for being asked, but maybe they could have been done more... sensitively.
Although I think those are great questions for a doctor to ask, if I'd been in your position, I'd have felt more comfortable if they'd been preceded by some sort of explanation (e.g., "mind/body health is all one thing and we want to treat the whole person; answers are voluntary and confidential," etc.).
That being said: I wish my doctor thought to ask anything even close to these!
F.
Lacochran -- I was tempted for about 30 seconds to be very creative, but thought better of it.
Steve -- Although I'm still not completely sure about what is expected in that last question, I'll fill in the blanks with something.
Lizzy -- Maybe I should have let you fill out the forms...
Gary -- I haven't been for the appt yet. If I get up the nerve, I may ask why!
Kelly -- I love your mother and I don't even know her.
Anon -- I actually liked the first 3 questions and didn't mind the other two. I think some suggested choices on the last one would clarify my confusion about what is being asked. I will be more interested to find out what this doctor has to say when I have my appt which isn't until Apr 28.
Barbara...... I guess for me it would depend on what I was seeing this doctor for. With my internal medicine doctor I would answer all the questions honestly. For a podiatrist I would say NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!
Before he retired my former GP had all of his patients sit and chat for a bit before or after each visit--a sort of nice 'get to know you better' and do you have any questions sort of session; if he saw you on the street he knew your name even if he hadn't seen you in a while. (And he was a busy upper East side guy) He'd ask you how things were going.
My current doctor is nothing like that. And I've never come across a form with questions like that. Interesting!
My current doctor and I have had a relationship as doctor/patient for 30 years. Not the sort of questions he asks.
well it probably means that this new doc has the ear of the White House and if you'd answered in a particular way you could have joined the Easter Egg Hunt!!!!
xx
universal health care is what we were all pulling for. these questionaires go with it. we want our doctors all to know what treatments we're getting. these answers are entered into a central database and voila! your entire life history for anyone to read. I myself find this scary.
Post a Comment
<< Home