This post has been shared by the AdvoConnection Blog. It was written with a patient-client audience in mind, but might be useful to you, too.
It is provided so you can find it in a search here at myAPHA.org, but you’ll need to link to the original post to read it in its entirety. Find the link to that post at the end of the excerpt.
All We Really Need to Know About Getting Good Healthcare, We Learned in Kindergarten
With a nod to Robert Fulghum… As millions of youngsters head off to school, it reminds us that some of the lessons we learned in kindergarten can serve us well as we consider our healthcare throughout our lifetimes. Here are some of those lessons: 1. Be respectful of your medical providers, and command their respect in return. Early on, we learned to be polite and to stick up for ourselves. The same holds true for working with our healthcare providers. It’s important to be respectful of their education and abilities. That means we listen carefully to what they tell us and take advantage of their knowledge. It’s also wise, though, not to respect them to the point where you discount your own gut feelings or intuition. Further, we need to remember that while they may have attended medical school, we are the owners of, and the best judges of, our own bodies. Forming a partnership with mutual respect works best. Learn to create a good partnership, and to communicate well with your provider, a key aspect of getting the healthcare you deserve. 2. Make friends. Whether in the classroom or on the playground, having a group of friends to lean on was important in the good times and the bad. That’s true for our healthcare too. When you have a medical challenge, find others with similar challenges and get to know them. Share information among you, perhaps through support groups or others who share your diagnosis. When healthcare times are tough, maybe a difficult diagnosis or problems making your treatment choices, then make friends with an independent advocate who can help you do things YOUR way. 3. Be honest and take responsibility. Who doesn’t remember getting in trouble for some childhood indiscretion? We learned then that being truthful got us in to less trouble than if we tried to cover it up. The same goes for our healthcare and information sharing. Be honest with your doctor and your advocate. Take responsibility for your actions. You can’t be helped if you pretend you are doing one thing when reality shows otherwise. 4. Avoid bullies We all knew those bullies in the schoolyard. They were arrogant and sometimes they were downright mean. To our best abilities, we learned to avoid them. And when it came to choosing friends, we shunned bullies and turned to other kids to befriend instead. We can learn…