Following the instructions below will help you avoid confusion and get the best results from your doctor's care.

1. If you are seeing any specialist on your own, you should remember that the specialist physician is not a replacement for your family physician. You should see your family physician on a periodic basis for general medical check-ups. Many aspects of your health care may not fall under the area of expertise of the specialist you are seeing.
1. If you have a diagnostic test done by your doctors (i.e., blood / urine, X-ray)
2. nurse / representative has
   discussed the results of the test
   with you. Just because you did
   not hear from your doctor, do
   not assume everything is okay.
   
2. Diagnostic evaluation done by an M.D. usually includes a clinical examination and diagnostic tests to evaluate only that particular problem for which you were seeing the physician. It is neither advisable nor possible to do total body check-ups. Therefore the statement "everything is okay" usually means that diseases pertinent to the present problem are not there. It does not mean that the body is free from all disease and ailments.
3. Many times clinical observation is a good strategy, rather than running every possible test now. Therefore, you must keep all follow-up appointments given to you by your doctor as closely as possible. This applies even though your condition has clinically improved.