Why should I ask about upcoming surgeries even if the health history is complete?
Because a health history looks backward and your patient lives forward. When someone fills out that form they list what has already happened to them. They are not thinking about the knee replacement scheduled in three weeks or the procedure coming next month. So you can have the world’s most thorough history and still get blindsided. Ask it straight, is there anything else going on medically that we have not discussed, or any upcoming surgeries? Skip that one simple question and over a year you will have two or three people surprise you. You take them all the way through the process, get to yes, and only then discover this is a terrible time for them to start treatment. That is a waste of everyone’s effort and it is entirely avoidable. The form tells you the past. Your mouth has to ask about the future.
If the answers you are finding here resonate with you, my team and I work with a small group of clients each year. The next step is a complimentary Discovery Consultation and Practice Review with Dr. McAnally.