Learn the most critical factor in educating yourself on your condition

How can you best learn about a condition you’ve just been diagnosed with? You may have several days or even weeks to prepare for a visit to a specialist.

For example, you may fall and injure your wrist, then be seen at an ER or urgent care clinic. After being diagnosed with a “wrist fracture”, you might start an online search for more information while you wait to be seen by an orthopaedic surgeon. A search for distal radius fracture or wrist fracture yields very general information on a site like WebMD. Most patients will not end up doing such a search until after an injury and initial treatment.

How can you perform such a search for information to maximize your knowledge when you see a surgeon or specialist?

A site like WebMD will not be much help in the case of wrist fractures. If you have been referred to an orthopaedic surgeon, do a Google search for orthopaedic surgeon. The second link on the page is the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons – AAOS.

On the AAOS website, you can find very specific information about wrist fractures. The question of what specifically should be done to treat a specific problem is an issue you’ll have to discuss with the treating doctor – it’s hard to find comprehensive answers to your individual problem on a website.

The critically important benefit of such a search is that it provides you with the language of the injury or condition. Your doctor will be using this language when he talks about the injury (or condition) and how to treat it. If you understand or are at least familiar with the vocabulary associated with the condition, you’ll be miles ahead of most patients.

You have more important things to focus on in the doctor’s office than what words mean – you want to devote your limited time with the doctor to discussing risks/benefits and potential outcomes of the proposed procedure (or non-surgical treatment). Before your visit you can get a firm handle on the terminology associated with your condition and save time for everyone concerned.

Additionally, your doctor will spend more time explaining the details of and options for treatment instead of explaining each word for you.