About this video
Before a first visit, doctors and psychiatrists usually ask you to fill out intake forms. After all, the forms can feel like homework, and you already feel poorly.
Dr. Baldes explains why they’re worth the time. Time in a visit is limited. He books an hour for new patient evaluations, and even that at times feels limited. Filling out the basic background information ahead of time frees up the first visit for what matters most: identifying your goals, figuring out the fine-grained details of your history that are particularly relevant diagnostically, and giving you time to ask questions so we can come to a shared understanding.
Advice
- Set aside 15, 20, or 30 minutes somewhere quiet so you don’t feel rushed.
- Skip what you’re unsure of. We can go over it together in the visit.
- Have a medication list nearby. If you can fill that out, it makes the medication questions in the visit much smoother.
- Share only what you’re comfortable sharing. You can leave something out and we can talk about it later, or in the visit. It can take some time to establish trust before you talk about something, and that’s totally normal.
If you can’t get to the forms before your appointment, that’s fine. We take you as you are, wherever you are. But filling them out as you can helps your evaluation, and getting started in treatment, go as smoothly as possible.
Read: Your first visit
Chapters
- 0:00 Introduction
- 0:29 Why the forms are worth the time
- 1:06 Tips for filling them out
- 1:30 Share only what you’re comfortable sharing
- 1:43 If you can’t get to the forms
- 2:01 Learn more about how I work
Educational content, not medical advice. Watching this video does not create a doctor-patient relationship. Please talk with your own clinician about your care.
Read the transcript
It's Dr. David Baldes here, board-certified psychiatrist practicing in Duluth, Minnesota and statewide by telehealth with an important video today about why do doctors and psychiatrists have you fill out intake forms before the visit. After all, the forms feel like homework. You already feel poorly. Why do you want to take on a bunch of work before coming to see the doctor who's supposed to help you feel better?
Well, we have a good reason, and it's because we have limited time in a visit. I book an hour for new patient evaluations, and even that at times feels limited. Filling out those forms for basic background information frees up the first visit for what matters the most, which are identifying your goals, figuring out the fine-grained details of the history, zooming in on areas from your history that are going to be particularly relevant diagnostically, and to give time for you to ask questions and to come to some shared understanding.
So my advice for you would be to set aside 15, 20, 30 minutes somewhere quiet so you don't feel rushed. Skip what you're unsure of, and we can go over it together in our visit. Have a medication list nearby, and if you can fill that out, that's very helpful, and it certainly makes the medication questions in the visit much smoother.
And then share only what you're comfortable sharing. You can leave something out. We can talk about it later. We can talk about it in the visit. You might need to take some time to establish some trust before you can talk about it, and that's totally normal.
If you can't get to the forms before your appointment, that's fine. We're going to take you as you are, wherever you are. But if you want to do your part to help your evaluation and getting started in treatment go as smoothly as possible, filling out those forms as you can is very helpful.
You can learn more about how I work, on my approach, about my background, about how I see things as a psychiatrist at davidbaldesmd.com.
And again, I'm accepting patients in person here in Duluth and statewide by telehealth and have broad enrollment with a variety of insurance plans. So if you need help, I'm happy to help you. Thanks.
More from Dr. Baldes
New videos every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, plus posts on Instagram.