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The Importance of Being a Smart Health Consumer and Advocate for Your Personal Healthcare

Program: HPV Test vs. The Pap Smear: New testing methods that could save your life
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Andrew Schorr:

Right. Jodie, thank you. You know, Marie, you and I are totally aligned, and I think Jodie too, and that is the reason I do Patient Power is because I've come a long way. We all have, I think, from when we went to the doctor, and the doctor was in the white coat, and the medical team, and whatever they said went, and they knew everything, and we knew nothing, to tremendous change, and I think now as there are more options and medical science moves forward, and we've heard that here; not all doctors are aware of it or have worked that into their practice, even though there's the evidence for that. In this case you mentioned, Marie, digital mammography and the evidence for that, etc. Colonoscopy took a long time to take hold. If we don't speak up as consumers, we may lose, and not because anybody's a bad person, but just because it's either a time of change. Not everybody knows everything, and only we know our body best. I mean, Marie, you believe that, and I guess you've probably heard thousands of examples where that makes a difference; if only we're as much of a consumer about our health as we are about what clothes we shop for or what house we buy, right?

Marie Savard:

I know. I say that with getting test results. Can you imagine going to the bank and not getting a deposit slip of the amount of money you deposited? We give our blood. We give our cervix cells or whatever you want to call it, our breasts for mammography. We give ourselves willingly and don't expect a copy of that information. It's ours. We need it. The information can sometimes be misread. You know, women think no news is good news. No. No news means maybe they lost it in the laboratory or it got lost in the mail. You have to follow up and realize that it's your life that's on the line and you family's life on the line, and docs, we're human. We make mistakes. Don't expect us to be perfect. We've got to all do our part.

Jodie McKinney:

Be an advocate.

Andrew Schorr:

Yes, to be an advocate. It's fair to ask a question, so again, you may have the same gynecologist for many years. It's fair to have a conversation rather than to just be directed, right? I mean, the doctors don't take offense at that, do they Marie?

Marie Savard:

No, I think the more informed a person comes and the more willing they are to kind of have a give-and-take conversation, the better the doctor's job and life is in the long run. I think an informed patient has the best outcomes, which makes a doctor and everybody look good, so I do think we need to use honey rather than vinegar when we're approaching our docs because they are busy, and they're stressed for time. Don't ask for something unreasonable, but be clear. At the end of the day you've got to be clear, and you've got to get what you know makes sense for you.

Andrew Schorr:

Okay. Now, I imagine, Jodie, this has carried through to the way you get healthcare for your kids now too, and maybe what we're teaching them is to advocate for themselves as well. So there are changes, I think, that we learn along the way. I certainly did with my leukemia that's mentioned at the beginning of the show by our announcer Carlene, and that is I firmly believe I got better care once I understood what I was dealing with and then sought out experts in that in my case. It doesn't apply here so much, but I was in a clinical trial, and it made a big difference.

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