Know Your Numbers!

To say the patient is an important member of his or her own healthcare team is so intuitive and basic that it hardly seems worth reiterating.  Nevertheless, when it comes to being included and informed of certain important pieces of information, it seems that patients are often left in the dark.

How many times have you gone to your doctor, and a medical assistant has taken your blood pressure, your temperature, and perhaps your heart rate?  How many times has the medical assistant left you without sharing the numbers with you?  In my experience, it is rare for that information to be shared with me unless I ask, "What is my blood pressure? What is my heart rate? My temperature?"

I've observed the same thing with patients in the hospital.  A nursing assistant checks vital signs (blood pressure, temp, heart rate, and sometimes oxygen saturation level) or possibly does a finger stick to check blood sugar and then leaves the room without sharing the information with the patient.  Patients not only have a right to that information, but it is important that patients are taught and understand normal values and where their numbers are in relationship to "normal."

It almost seems to be the norm to withhold vital sign numbers from the patient, although I don't believe it is done on purpose.  I wonder if some caregivers assume the patients either don't care to know or wouldn't understand the numbers if the numbers were shared with them.  This is where the Smart Patient comes in.

If the person taking your vital signs doesn't immediately share the numbers with you, ask for them.  If you don't understand what the numbers mean, don't ask the nursing assistant.  The nursing assistant is not expected or truly qualified to teach you about your vital signs.  The next time your nurse comes to see you, ask your nurse what the normal range is and how your numbers compare, unless you already know and understand.

If I were a patient in the hospital, assuming I was well enough to advocate for myself, I would tell my nurses and nursing assistants from the very start, "I like to know everything. Be sure to tell me my numbers when you take my vital signs and anything else you are allowed to tell me!  The more I know, the happier I am." I would probably need to say the same thing to every new caregiver, but it would be worth the effort.

The more you know and understand, the more effective you can be as the most important member of your health care team!