The quality and efficiency of patient visits with a primary care provider can be improved by understanding the way the health care system works and preparing for it, according to a UCCS nursing faculty member.
Deborah Tuffield, instructor, Helen and Arthur E. Johnson Beth-El College of Nursing and Health Sciences, and a nurse practitioner primary care provider at the UCCS HealthCircle Primary Care clinic, will deliver “How to Talk with Your Health Care Provider: Strategies to Get the Most Out of an Office Visit” at 5:30 p.m. Aug. 4 at the UCCS Lane Center for Academic Health Sciences, 4863 North Nevada Ave. Her presentation is part of the UCCS HealthCircle Community Lecture Series. It is free and open to the public.
“My dad used to get so agitated after a trip to the doctor’s office,” Tuffield said. “It was from that experience that I really started to think about teaching others how to have realistic expectations of their physician visits and what we, as patients, can do to improve them.”
Tuffield explained that many patients expect immediate answers to problems from their health care providers and are often disappointed when solutions are long-term and painful.
“There is no magic solution to knee pain, for example,” Tuffield said. “Thinking that there is one is simply not realistic. The reality is that getting rid of that knee pain is likely going to require a fair amount of work that may require frank discussion about personal beliefs and attitudes.”
Being prepared for those discussions, and being willing to work in partnership with health care professionals, are important steps to making that physician visit more effective, Tuffield said. In her presentation, Tuffield shares that most primary care offices have 15 to 20 minute appointment slots that provide three to four minutes face-to-face time between patient and provider.
“That’s not a lot of time. It’s important that you use it wisely,” Tuffield said. “We will teach you how.”
This is the fifth in an ongoing series of community health lectures provided by the UCCS HealthCircle to educate the greater Colorado Springs community on common health issues. Previous lectures dealt with improving nutrition, preventing falls, stress management and ultrasound testing.
In February 2014, five UCCS clinics joined to become the UCCS HealthCircle. Located in the Lane Center for Academic Health Sciences, the clinics are the UCCS Aging Center, the Peak Nutrition Clinic, the Center for Active Living, a nurse-managed Primary Care Clinic and the Veterans Health and Trauma Clinic. For more information, visit www.uccs.edu/healthcircle.
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