How to be the quarterback of your healthcare team.
There’s a reason quarterbacks are household names. They don’t just run plays — they own the moment, shifting direction when needed and keeping the team’s energy in check. And here’s the thing: in your health journey, you’re the quarterback.
Too often as patients, we end up feeling like benchwarmers, waiting for someone else to call the shots. I’ve been there myself — rushing through appointments, nodding along with the first treatment plan suggested, or leaving with unanswered questions. But the truth is, you hold the most valuable information in the room. You know your symptoms, your goals, your lived experience. That makes you the one best positioned to guide the team.
Just like a quarterback calls an audible when the defense doesn’t look right, you can ask for clarification, push for alternatives, or even seek a second opinion. Preparation tools like the REViVE Hope for Health Guidebook can make a huge difference, helping you organize your thoughts, describe your symptoms clearly, and reflect on your options before making decisions.
When you show up prepared and empowered, you’re not just another patient — you’re the leader of your own healthcare team. So the question is: what’s your next play?
There’s a reason quarterbacks are some of the most famous athletes in America. Even if you don’t follow football, you’ve likely heard the names and seen them on commercials or SNL. Quarterbacks in football are at the center of each offensive play, with the ability to make or break a team’s game and season. Sure, coaches might call the plays, but the quarterback is on the field to change a play, manage the energy, and make decisions in real time.
Within REViVE, we’ve been talking recently about the concept of “building a healthcare team”. Maybe because I live in Kansas City, the football analogy came to my mind nearly immediately.
As a physical therapist, I have the pleasure of getting to be one provider on many patients’ teams. But seeing patients navigate health care over the years has made it clear to me that to get the best results, the patient (you!) has to be the quarterback of their own healthcare team, rather than sitting on the bench while others make the decisions.
One interesting thing about being a healthcare provider is I’ve been a patient far longer than I’ve been a provider. I know firsthand how powerless it can feel to sit on a doctor’s exam table.
Pitfalls I commonly find myself in as a patient are not feeling confident enough to express my health concerns, avoiding asking questions to take up more time, and quickly accepting the first treatment suggestion. However, the longer I’ve been on the other side of the relationship, I’ve come to appreciate that the patient really is the person in the room with the most information, the most at stake, and the most important to be at the center of all decisions.
Growing up in an active family, sports injuries were a part of the process. I remember when a doctor would ask me to describe the pain, and I said, “I don’t know, it just hurts!”. While I wouldn’t expect my 12-year-old self to have the most vivid descriptions of a knee injury, now as a PT I realize the providers were looking for descriptors like sharp, throbbing, or burning, as different descriptors provide insight as to what structures are injured without needing expensive imaging.
Those doctors and physical therapists were asking these questions knowing that the patient truly does have the key info needed to make a diagnosis. A patient’s answers to describe pain can lead a provider to think a symptom can be from something as treatable as a muscle strain, or as serious as an internal disease you might need to see a specialist for.
So, when I say, “be your own quarterback”, what I mean is go into appointments knowing that you hold all the answers within yourself. You know what outcome you’re trying to achieve by going to an appointment. And you deserve to feel empowered by the treatment options you undergo. If a quarterback doesn’t like the look of the defense when lining up for a snap, they call an audible. Just like you can seek a second opinion if a recommended treatment plan isn’t sitting right with you.
When I’m a patient, I use the REViVE Hope for Health Guidebook Self Check-in and Prepare Share pages to make sure I know how I want to describe my symptoms, and make sure I’m not forgetting to bring anything up. I’ve been able to witness as both a patient and a provider how coming into an appointment prepared can help lead to efficient diagnoses and more effective treatment strategies. Then, taking time to reflect on treatment options has helped me as a patient to understand if it’s an option I truly want to dive into, once I’ve taken the time to digest all possible benefits, side effects, and alternatives.
The REViVE guidebook has helped me feel at the center of my own health journey, to be the quarterback of my team. As well as simultaneously making me want to encourage every patient to be at the center of their own. The next time you walk in and out of a doctor’s appointment, I hope it’s with the confidence and self-determination of a quarterback. Because you hold the key and deserve to drive the bus of your own health care team. So what’s your next play? How are you going to become the star player of your team?
Jay Alexander, REViVE Hope for Health board member