Time Your Doctor’s Visit Wisely
Nothing could be more simple, yet more profoundly effective in helping you avoid bugs that may be floating around the doctor’s office. It sounds harmless, but think about it this way: A doctor’s office full of sick patients means a doctor’s office saturated with germs and bugs. Going when it isn’t so busy or when flu season isn’t at its peak is a good rule of thumb.
● If it’s flu season and you only need a physical, consider visiting the doctor when the office is less busy.
● Is it possible for you to consult by phone or online? Take the shock out of the visit by not going if you can avoid it during a hellacious flu season. Some doctors offer virtual visits – take advantage of this service if you can.
But if you absolutely must see the doctor, then timing is everything.
● Avoid the rush hour of crowds coming in during their lunch breaks, at the top of the morning or at the end of the day. A ZocDoc.com survey cited 10:00 and 2:00 as the most popular appointment times, regardless of the day of the week. Nabbing that first appointment may mean a cleaner, less crowded waiting room, plus less time in the office.
● Visit when there is a lull in activity in the office. Many urgent care centers, for example, post their wait times on their websites. Or simply call the office and ask when there are fewer appointments scheduled. Scheduling a routine visit during popular vacationing times, like the holidays and summer, may be easier on a Friday, when people choose to leave town for the weekend.
● Choose a Monday morning -- most 9-to-5ers are rushing get ahead of the grind and may want to check in at work before heading to the doctor.
Bring Your Own Entertainment
Regardless of your scheduling strategy, you might sit in the waiting room for a while waiting for the doctor to call you in. In that time, you’ll notice a number of knick-knacks floating around the waiting room, tempting you to flip through the pages of a magazine or click through the channels of the waiting room TV. But all of those items in the waiting room have equally tempted someone else who perhaps was much sicker than you. So that devilishly scandalous magazine with all the Hollywood gossip you’ve been waiting to read is dirty. Sure, it’s dirty for the stories. But it’s even dirtier for all the microbes that have set up camp in its pages.
● Don’t read the magazines, play the board games or touch any of the other items in the waiting room.
● Bring your own magazines, books and entertainment to keep you occupied.
● Keep your stuff to yourself so as not to cross-contaminate them.
Wear a Mask
If you absolutely must visit the doctor’s office during flu season or at a busy time, take as radical a step as is necessary to keep your health in check. Wear a mask to avoid inhaling harmful contagion. You’ll probably be at arm's length from someone violently coughing from a bout of the flu or some other communicable disease. But that doesn’t mean you have to breathe in what they’re coughing up. Save yourself the future discomfort of fighting off the flu by wearing a mask to stay healthy.
And if it seems a little awkward doing so, think about it this way: Doctors and nurses wear masks all day long for exactly the same reason. So join the club.
Wash Your Hands and Bring Sanitizer
This is probably the most critical piece of advice you could take. At some point, you'll have to touch something in the doctor's office. Using the community pen to sign in or the office clipboard to fill out paperwork allows germs to pass from one pair of hands to another, all day, every day. Just think how many of those hands were dirty or sick. The examining table you sit on when you chat with your doctor has already had its share of visitors that day. How many of them were sick?
● So with that in mind when you go to the doctor’s office, come in with your arsenal of hand sanitizer. Be sure to sanitize your hands after using any common items in the office that could be teeming with germs.
● Wash your hands after your consultation. There is bound to be a strong antibacterial soap in the doctor’s office. Maybe you’ve noticed the doctor washes his or her hands when he or she steps in the consultation room. It’s a habit that keeps the doctors and nurses bug free.
● Sanitize your hands the moment you leave the doctors office. Sure, you’ve done it a million times while you were in the waiting room, consultation area, bathroom, etc. But don’t forget -- you probably must touch the door handle to the office on the way out of the building. And that is the meeting point of all the patients who visited the office that day.
● Another equally critical point of observation is not to touch your face while you are in the doctor’s office. Even if you have washed your hands meticulously, avoid the temptation to touch your face. You’ll spread germs to the one part of your body that is the most exposed and most vulnerable.
Take Multivitamins and Rest Up
The doctor is there to help cure what ails you. Consider helping yourself as well before you visit.
● Get an ample amount of rest before the doctor’s visit so that your immune system is at the top of its game. If you’re fatigued, your immune system will be much more vulnerable to the germs and microbes floating around the office.
● Give your immune system a much-needed boost by taking a multivitamin before your visit. If you aren’t already taking one daily, consider taking one before your doctor’s visit. Multivitamins will help reinforce your immune defense against any number of unforeseen enemies.
Keep It Clean
Your doctor’s visit doesn’t have to be a nightmare. Maybe you’re already anxious or stressed because of the visit itself. Washing your hands and bringing your own entertainment immediately cut your risk of infection dramatically. Keeping a cool head and being mindful of your surroundings will help avoid any bugs at the doctor’s office.