Once you have been accurately diagnosed, you will have a menu of treatment options to discuss with your doctor. How can you learn about them all? What are the best resources? How will you make the right decisions?
A master list of resources to learn about diagnosing and treating seasonal flu, tracking flu outbreaks, when it's a good time to get a flu shot, and other important flu related information for seasonal Flu 2008 - 2009.
Alternative, complementary and integrative medicine are approaches to medicine, some of which have existed for thousands of years. You'll recognize names like herbals, acupuncture, meditation and Eastern medicine. A smart patient understands what these therapies are and how they can, or can't help improve her health.
Once you have reviewed the guidelines for making sure the information you find online is credible, reliable and objective, use the following links and descriptions to find exactly the information that can help you partner with your doctor, take responsibility for your healthcare decisions, and find your best medical outcomes.
When we are denied the medical care we want or think we need, having a knowledge of the concept of healthcare rationing will go a long way toward helping us how to combat it. Understanding healthcare rationing will also help us understand conversations in the coming years about healthcare reform.
Anyone can publish anything they want to on the Internet, no matter how true or phony it is. A wise patient uses these guidelines to determine which health information is truly credible, reliable and objective, and which is not.
Once we've been diagnosed, we need to decide what treatment is best for us. There are four goals for medical treatment. Deciding what the goal is helps us manage our expectations and determine which goal will work for us.
Empowered patients know that it is their responsibility to make their own treatment decisions, referring to their doctors, but understanding outside influences.
Empowered patients understand that their participation on their own healthcare team, in collaboration with others, is a vital aspect of finding their best medical outcomes.
From choosing the right doctor, to learning about treatment options, to being a proactive healthcare decision maker, to complying with treatment decisions, a savvy patient needs a number of tools to help navigate the system.
When you have a difficult diagnosis, or if the treatment options presented to you are invasive or long-lasting, you need to get a second opinion.
Once you and your doctor have decided which treatment will work best for you, it's up to you to follow through, complying with those decisions.
Understand the basics of clinical trials, including the reasons clinical trials are conducted, the types of trials, the phases of trials, and the protocols.
Doctors often recommend their patients make treatment choices based on evidence-based medicine. Before we make those choices, it's best to understand what evidence-based medicine is, how it can help us, or why it might not.
Patients have the right, and some say an obligation, to make their wishes known regarding end of life care. Advanced directives including living wills, health care proxies and do-not-resuscitate orders are reviewed.
Informed consent is a concept that requires patients to understand the risks and benefits of any test, procedure or treatment a doctor recommends and a patient agrees to. Empowered patients need to understand just what they are agreeing to.
