Your Power in 17: Understanding the significance of your knowledge

Opinion

The only two things all humans have in common is that we are all born, and we all die. Between those two discrete events, every moment is unique to the individual. Our lives can be broken into decades, years, months, days, hours, minutes. Despite time being a constant metric of the universe, the way we measure and value a moment is variable. So many things can happen in a minute, and an hour can go by in the blink of an eye.

What is the value of 17 to 24 minutes? A 2022 study by Elation indicated that this is the average time of a doctor's appointment. This short amount of time spells out the future of our health for the coming weeks, months, and even years.  Why is this the amount of time that we allow the majority of decisions regarding our health to be made, when for many of us, we haven’t spent any time outside of this short meeting working on the outcome?

The healthcare system is hard on everyone. It’s hard on the providers who are overworked, underpaid, and facing record breaking rates of burnout. Doctors are cutting back hours, a record number are exiting the profession, and yet the number of residency spots remains the same. Combined with the ever growing number of patients seeking care, the demand is higher than ever. The system is broken, and in turn, it breaks our trust, respect, and patience.  In a survey conducted by Folia Health about individuals’ experiences while navigating the healthcare system, nearly 10% of respondents shared they had a poor outcome with their provider. 

Solving the problem of burnout for providers does not seem to be happening any time soon, and it doesn’t get to the core of other issues within the American healthcare system. So if the system isn’t changing, how can patients protect themselves and be best prepared for the few minutes they will spend with their provider? Patients can arm themselves with knowledge - knowledge of personal rights, data points to support experiences, and other information that will help the doctor help them in the limited time that they do have.

Within a 17 to 24 minute window, an infinite number of decisions can be made regarding care. This bit of time can drag by, or go by in the blink of an eye, so maximizing it is the best thing we can do for ourselves.   How do we best prepare for an appointment so we can make the most of the time we have? 

We can make the interaction better by assembling our information, and being prepared to “tell our story” succinctly and accurately when we meet with our healthcare provider. We can begin by tracking our health observations as they happen on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. This data can neatly fit into graphs and reports that are easy to glance over and gather a deeper understanding of what is happening. While the healthcare system is figuring out its position in our evolving society, the responsibility lies in our hands to take a moment and prepare ourselves to advocate for the best care possible