Healthier Together: Planning for your own health

When it comes to health, having a plan helps, and some medical professionals say most people probably don’t have one.

In our latest Healthier Together, KIRO 7′s Ranji Sinha spoke to a medical professional about planning for your own health.

A doctor with Regence BlueShield says making a health care plan can also follow a certain set of steps for approaching a health care problem.

Dr. Nicole Saint Clair, Executive Medical Director of Regence BlueShield, admits that the planning stage is crucially important and that people who will eventually become patients often ignore it.

“It’s important to have a relationship established with your primary care provider so that you have someone that you know you can go to when things pop up,” Dr. Saint Clair said.

She says everyone should have a plan before they have a medical issue.

While getting sick or having a health problem is often unexpected, planning for it can help you build a relationship with a doctor and feel more confident even in an emergency.

Dr. Saint Clair says people can procrastinate.

“I know we tend to think, ‘Oh, I want to have an annual visit. How can I go about that?’ But some people are aware they have some sort of a screening due. But I think other than that, that brief moment of having a checklist, most people don’t think, ‘What would I do if I became acutely ill,’” Dr. Saint Clair said.

She and other major medical experts have been advising people to avoid certain pitfalls when seeking health care.

One of the major ones is going to the emergency room.

It’s a move more people are making for what many medical professionals perceive as relatively minor emergencies.

Dr. Saint Clair says the ER/ED is also one of the most expensive areas of service in a medical facility, and it may take a very long time to see a doctor there.

“The ER is for things like a heart attack or a stroke or if you really are afraid that you’re facing a life-threatening emergency or you’re having such severe pain.... there’s urgent care, free-standing clinics or buildings that may or may not be associated with a hospital or an ER,” Dr. Saint Clair said.

She says there’s an order many people/patients can follow when dealing with a problem.

The order may not always be the same, but there are options in many cases.

The first step is nursing lines, which are often a good place to start for your medical questions since they are simply phone calls where medical professionals can often answer nearly any question.

From there, urgent care or your primary care physician could be the next step towards dealing with your issue.

Dr. Saint Clair says there are also other options.

“There’s been a huge increase in telehealth over the last several years and many urgent care problems can actually be addressed over telehealth,” Dr. Saint Clair said.

Depending on a patient’s diagnosis, you could head to the ER or not, but many medical professionals feel you, at the very least, won’t waste time waiting for care in the priciest part of a hospital.

An emergency doctor also has the discretion to make many medical decisions and may not deem your problem a priority if it’s not a true emergency.

Ultimately, Dr. Saint Clair says, it’s up to patients to make plans. Still, their physicians can help.

“A brief conversation with your Primary Care Physician when you’re in that annual wellness visit, or even just a quick email. ‘Hey, if I’m feeling under the weather, where do you recommend I go?’” Dr. Saint Clair said.