https://paulnystrom.com/tags/chronic-disease/Recent content in Chronic Disease on Paul NystromHugoen-usTue, 17 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://paulnystrom.com/posts/do-you-have-any-medical-problems/Tue, 17 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://paulnystrom.com/posts/do-you-have-any-medical-problems/<p>Do you have any medical problems?</p> <p>I ask patients this question frequently. Some immediately get irritated with me and tell me to “just look in the computer.” And as with every patient, I do look in the medical record regarding their prior medical problems, recent clinic/ER visits/hospital admissions, and medications. However, asking the question tells me a lot about how tuned in they are to their medical problems, and it gives me some idea of their medical literacy. Their involvement and degree of concern about their medical problems often figure into whatever is going on.</p>