Talking to your health care provider

Whether or not you are expecting, having a good relationship with your health care provider is important. The ability to have a discussion about different treatments allows you to take charge of your own health because at the end of the day, you are the person living with the consequences of those decisions.

In this city, there are many health care providers from midwives, naturopathic doctors, medical doctors, accupuncturists, and much more! No matter who they are, it is important to discuss the risks and the benefits to the treatments that are offered. My suggestion is to always start with the benefits. No matter who the health care provider is, they want to help and by starting to ask about the benefits, they know you are really listening to what they have to say. I would always follow this up by asking about the risks. Informed consent relies on you having the information to make a decision that will work best for you and your family.

Benefits and risks are the two simple questions, but we often forget to ask if there are alternatives. Sometimes we are only presented the one option and we think that it is that treatment or no treatment. There are often many different options that can be open to you so you should see what they are as well as find out the benefits and risks to each of those.

Don't forget that in most cases, you have time to think about it. Just because you are sitting in front of the health care provider at that very moment does not mean you can't take a few minutes (or even days) to think about everything. See how long you have to make a decision and use that time to evaluate the pros and cons of each option.

Establishing this open communication with your health care provider will let them know that you are interested and invested in your health. Try it out next time and see what happens!