When Turnabout is Effective as Well as Fair

I’ve written before about transforming my own preventive care needs (and failings) into an opportunity to help my patients get things done even when their first instinct is avoidance. It happened again the other day. I’m not good about going to the dentist. Even though they want me there every six months, they’re lucky when it’s once a year. Every now and then, it stretches out even farther. Now is one of those times. I’m sure many others share my feelings about the dentist. I also know those feelings extend to other preventive services…like pap tests. I’ve had women in the midst of a pelvic exam tell me they’d rather be at the dentist. Can’t say I blame them. So when I was seeing a lady for a physical the other day, I noticed it had been a long time since her last pap. More than five years, which is the outer limit of the most liberal of the new guidelines for women over 30 with no history of abnormal paps or evidence of HPV on testing. However I tried to slice it, she was due. But she really didn’t want it. Not today. As it happens, she’s my dentist’s receptionist. So I came up with the following deal: I told her that when I called her back with her blood test results, I would go ahead and schedule my dental checkup if she would agree to then schedule her pap. She agreed enthusiastically. I called with her perfect labs. Then at the same time, I scheduled my checkup. And then she scheduled hers. I gues...
Source: Musings of a Dinosaur - Category: Primary Care Authors: Tags: Medical Source Type: blogs