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I've scheduled a doctor's visit with a Medical Group called Carondelet. The visit is just to establish a Primary Care Doctor here in Tucson. I'm not sure if its a local Tucson Group or in other areas of the country. Today I received a Patient Registration Form, to complete before the visit in 2 weeks. I understand having to complete this paperwork before a visit, but this is a series of pages asking some very personal questions. In fact its a ridiculous amount of paperwork, much more than I have ever filled out to go to a new doctor. Extremely personal questions,, more and type of, than I have ever been asked by a new Doctor's office. One of the questions on one of the forms, wants to know if the patient is st8, gay or transgendered. Or has bisexual tendencies. I had to look several times at this question, as I have never heard of this type of question being asked on a form before. It seems like the doctor would ask in private if it even came up at all. Another question is Who do I live with, and what is my relationship with the person. Is there a sexual relationship or not? Then they want to know if I feel threatened living with such person.
Is this type of questioning something new at Doctor's offices? Or is what I'm seeing probably more common at large Medical Groups, which I'm not use to going to. I'm use to the private doctor's office style of medical care.
I've never seen that question on a medical form myself, but I would assume the reason for the question is that being gay can have certain medical implications, i.e. HIV.
They may feel a person will more readily check a box on a form than answer a doctor or nurses question.
Or, it may be a time saver. Rather than have to sit with the patient & ask 50 different questions, they can just scan the form & focus on anything you said "yes" to.
It's probably just a way to save time for the doctor & nurses.
The 2 new doctors I saw this year asked those questions on an online form. As another poster said, saves a lot of time, is very thorough, and you can have time to think. I tend to forget stuff in the office!
Do you not want the doctor to know about ALL medical problems you might possibly have?
Perhaps if you had a pain in an embarrassing area, you would not tell the doctor because it would be embarrassing to you? (That's like taking your car to the mechanic and not saying what is wrong - They are not mind readers!)
FYI - Doctors treat ALL medical illnesses and for an initial visit want to know if you did or did not have something in the past. That includes sexually transmitted diseases.
You should be happy they are being so thorough! Note that not having a history of something and not having a particular lifestyle can be very important too. It can help them "rule out" certain illnesses - if you suddenly come down with something.
My feeling on those questionnaires is there is a difference between what they want and what they need. Most of the time, those papers just get stuck into a file and the doctor might glance at them. To me, it is the same as their disregard for keeping patients waiting, as though our time is not valuable. I would only answer the ones I am comfortable with...the ones important to my health.
More importantly, make sure you have made a list of things to talk to the doctor about. He or she will appreciate your getting to the point, so they can make a plan for your care more efficiently. The poor saps still waiting in the waiting room will appreciate it too.
I've never seen that question on a medical form myself, but I would assume the reason for the question is that being gay can have certain medical implications, i.e. HIV.
They may feel a person will more readily check a box on a form than answer a doctor or nurses question.
Or, it may be a time saver. Rather than have to sit with the patient & ask 50 different questions, they can just scan the form & focus on anything you said "yes" to.
It's probably just a way to save time for the doctor & nurses.
Yes to both. It is easier for most people to check a box on a paper than answer some questions. It does save time. It's a lot quicker to look at those pages than to ask all of those questions in the office.
Not only filling out the forms in advance saves time but it gives you time to remember stuff to write down that the doctor(s) need to know in order to treat you when necessary. Our doctors ask us yearly to fill out a new form to update anything that may have transpired from the previous years visit. It's all confidential.
Questions like that are more the standard these days. It's just a way of screening for different risk factors. If you are truly uncomfortable with it, I would think it would be fine to skip those questions, and tell them you'd rather not discuss those things.
Everyone gave excellent comments and advice. Thank you. I have decided to just fill out the questions, and accept that is how it's done now.
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