At any stage of life, taking charge of own our healthcare is a big part of successfully managing health concerns. For older adults, who often face chronic health conditions, this can become an overwhelming tangle of problems, solutions, goals, questions, and tasks. It’s never too late to learn how to organize and advocate for your own healthcare, though. And it’s a skill that strongly supports healthy aging practices as well!
As part of September’s National Healthy Aging month, in this article, we’ll take a look at ways that you can promote your health and well-being by effectively advocating for your care.
What does it mean to be your own healthcare advocate?
Being an advocate for your healthcare means that you know what you need to get well or stay well and that you speak up and make those needs known to the people who are part of your care.
This may sometimes pose a challenge for older adults, who may be hesitant to speak up in healthcare settings. For some older adults, it may feel like bad manners to question a doctor’s advice. But doctors, nurses, and others involved in treating health problems need to hear your wishes, needs, and input to give you the best care. Studies have shown that good communication between a patient and their doctor improves health outcomes. 1
Several strategies are part of this process of advocating for your health. Let’s take a closer look.
Six tips to advocate for your healthcare
To begin having conversations with your healthcare providers, there are some important skills to put into practice. These include:
- Understand your health conditions- if you have a chronic health condition and don’t understand the diagnosis or treatment, it’s difficult to advocate for changes to your care. In other words, if you don’t know what to expect, you can’t tell your doctor that your treatment isn’t working.
- Organize your medication- do you know what each medication you take is for? Do you know what possible side effects they can have? If you have side effects, do you discuss them with your doctor? How often do you review all medications with your healthcare team to make sure you are taking them correctly? In one study, adults age 65 and over had a rate of drug errors that is seven times higher than those under 65. 2
- Keep a list of concerns- it’s easy to lose track of changes and symptoms over time. By the time you see your doctor for a scheduled visit, you may not remember how long a symptom lasted, or forget to mention it. By writing them down as they happen, you can be sure nothing is missed.
- Understand your insurance and how to locate care- finding the best specialists and understanding which doctors and services are covered can be challenging, but if routine care isn’t answering your questions, getting a second opinion can sometimes help you find new treatment options.
- Write down any questions- appointments with your doctor can feel too short, and sometimes new information can make it even harder to fit in or remember questions you’ve had since your last visit. Keeping a running list and bringing it with you to appointments can help keep you on track.
- Establish your advance directives- documenting your wishes for end-of-life care now can help you focus on and share your values and treatment goals. Is a particular treatment hindering your quality of life, and not in line with those goals?
If changes in the future unexpectedly change your care needs and you aren’t able to express them yourself, who will be your advocate at that time? You can designate this person in your advance directives. Only 1 in 3 adults in the U.S. have completed this important documentation. 3
Boost your self-advocacy skills
As mentioned above, understanding your health conditions is important to advocate for your care. Learning more about them is a great way to boost your self-advocacy skills. Some ways you can do this include:
- Online health condition support groups
- Health seminars through your local hospital or health department
- Printed materials available through your doctor’s office (ask about large print if you have vision impairment!)
Sharing details with your doctor matters
As you begin thinking about how to advocate for your health needs with your providers, consider the following:
- Don’t be shy about embarrassing details- concerns about physical problems like changes in bowel habits, new problems with sexual function, frequent falls, new memory loss, or frequent alcohol use can be hard to share. But the more your doctor knows, the more he or she can do to help with your overall health.
- Be sure to mention any mood changes- depression is often overlooked in older adults. Feeling sad all the time, losing interest in activities you’ve enjoyed, sleeping more, appetite changes, and difficulty concentrating are not a normal part of aging.
- Tell your doctor what matters most- the best care for you may not be the same care that the next person chooses. “This is what is most important to me,” is a powerful phrase. A great healthcare provider can factor that into their care recommendations.
- If you don’t understand, speak up- it’s not unusual for healthcare providers to unintentionally use language that is hard to understand. And it’s also common for patients to feel embarrassed when they can’t understand, or to assume their doctor “knows what they’re talking about anyway” and just nod their head. Sometimes this means important information is overlooked by both the patient and the doctor because of misunderstandings.
Recruiting others to help you be your own healthcare advocate
The steps described above can be a lot to manage, especially if you aren’t feeling well or are overwhelmed with new information. This is where having help from others can have a huge impact.
The support of a trusted family member, friend, caregiver, or even professional advocate can help you stay organized, remind you to ask questions at appointments, plan follow-up care, and remember important details your doctor has shared with you.
Qualities of a good healthcare advocate
When you are choosing the person who will be most involved in supporting your healthcare advocacy, there are some qualities that make a great partner in these goals:
- They know you well, including your wishes and preferences for care. This may be the same person you have chosen as your healthcare power of attorney (HCPOA) in your advance directives.
- They are organized, detail-oriented, and don’t mind asking questions on your behalf.
- They understand your chronic health conditions or are willing to learn as much about them as possible to help you know what questions to ask.
- They have good follow-through and are responsible for making sure your needs are addressed and resolved.
How to find a professional advocate
Professional healthcare advocates are available as well, many times at low or no cost, but many patients aren’t aware of them or don’t know how to find them. Some places they can be found include:
- Through your insurance plan- many times these are nurse case managers and part of programs offered by insurance. They may be related to specific health conditions or medications you are taking.
- Through your hospital- this includes both inpatient and outpatient services, so even if you’re not admitted to the hospital there may be programs that help. Sometimes these are nurse navigators that help with specific health conditions, and other times hospital social workers or even chaplains are called on to assist people with coordinating their care.
- Through private advocacy organizations- these advocates are usually paid for out of pocket. Some of these organizations include the National Association of Healthcare Advocacy, the Alliance of Professional Health Advocates, and the Patient Advocate Foundation.
These professional advocates often can help you to find resources to support your treatment as well. They can even work with you and a family advocate to help with your goals. Resources that advocates have information on include copay assistance programs to help with medication costs, financial aid information to help with the cost of care, and educational information related to health conditions.
Barriers to being your own healthcare advocate
Along with organizing and keeping track of your care and any questions about it, there is the simple fact that for older adults, memory challenges and physical challenges can get in the way of being proactive about your health.
Vision and hearing impairment due to aging can make reading or hearing information difficult. Mobility struggles can make it hard to get to appointments regularly. And memory problems can further affect your ability to plan or to remember important information you’ve been told or want to share.
All of these are additional reasons to involve family or caregivers in the process of your care. They can help you with transportation to appointments, read information to you, and make phone calls on your behalf along with helping you to remember important information.
By being proactive about improving these barriers and taking the steps discussed here to successfully become your own healthcare advocate, you can enjoy healthier aging and live a more full and rewarding life.
If you need extra support with daily tasks like the ones discussed above, Caresify offers professional caregivers who understand how to give older adults personalized support. You can read more about these services here, or call 888-799-5007.
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