Questions to Ask Your Health Professional

You might find it helpful to take a list of questions when you visit your health professional. Choose the ones that are useful for you or the person you are asking about as the questions listed here cover a variety of situations.

Questions about diseases or conditions

• Can you please write down the name of the disease (or condition) for me?
• What causes it?
• How long is it likely to last?
• Will it keep getting worse or can I expect it to improve?
• How is it likely to progress?
• What percentage of people have it?
• How serious is it? What can I do to help myself?
• Can I prevent it or make it better?
• Can I pass it on to other people?
• What should I look out for?
• When do I need to see a doctor or go to hospital?
• What tests are there to confirm the condition or to find out what is likely to happen?
• Are there any support groups for people with the condition? How do I contact them? 

Questions about medicines

• How and when should I take it?
• Are there food or drinks that I should not take with it?
• Will my other medicines have a bad effect with it?
• Are there any activities I should not do when I take it?
• How should I store it?
• Are there likely to be side effects and how likely are they?
• Is there anything I can do to reduce the side effects?
• What should I do if I have side effects?
• Does it matter if I miss a dose? What should I do if I miss a dose?
• Can you give me any information about the medicine?
• If I have a problem that might affect how or whether I can take the medicine, what should I do?
• When should I stop taking the medicine?
• Should I stop quickly or should I gradually take smaller doses or take doses less often? 

Questions about other treatments

• What other treatments are available?
• Can you explain how effective this treatment is compare to other treatments?
• What are the complications for each treatment? How likely are they?
• What are the effects of the treatment if I use it for a long time?
• Is there something I can do to prevent the condition occurring again?
• Is there something I can do to lessen the symptoms of the condition?
• How can we tell if the treatment is working?
• What can be done if the treatment doesn't work?

Some HealthInsite information partner resources that might be useful

Getting the best from your visit to your GP [Multicultural Health Communication Service (NSW)]

Making informed decisions [The Jean Hailes Foundation]

Questions to ask your doctor [National Breast Cancer Centre (NBCC)] 

Menopause: frequently asked questions [myDr]

Ovarian cancer: your doctor checklist [myDr]

Updated April 2008

Printer friendly page

Informed Consent HealthInsite Topic Page Links to information on providing informed consent about health care decisions.

Reviews of Evidence for Treatments HealthInsite Topic Page Links to information on reviewing the evidence for health treatments and interventions, and how to find reviews.

Consumer Rights HealthInsite Topic Page Links to information on individual and health consumers´ rights and responsibilities.