Many patients are educating themselves about their
health, self-diagnosing and pursuing care on their own.
Some patients are using health information to self-diagnose
their conditions and asking doctors to prescribe treatments
based on their own research, others are confused by the
overload of health information. To improve health outcomes,
doctors and patients should share the responsibility for
making health care decisions.
All of the health information now available to consumers
is changing the patient/doctor relationship.
Patients’ increased access to medical information
is changing the relationship between patient and health
care professional.
To help doctors and patients make treatment decisions,
it is necessary to sort through health information and find
the best medical treatment based on what has been proven
to work and is effective.
Many doctors and other health care professionals
are attempting to help patients make sense of the overload
of health information by gathering, evaluating, and sharing
well-tested, proven, medical research. With this research,
the health care professional and patient make treatment
decisions together based on what works and is effective.
Ask your doctor or other health care professional about
how you can decide together what is the best medical treatment
for you.
Patients and doctors need to engage in a dialogue
about making the best medical treatment decisions.
To learn more about making health care decisions based
on the best medical evidence, check the following resources
for quality health information:
- Cochrane Consumer Network at
www.cochraneconsumer.com. This website is part of
the Cochrane Collaboration, an international organization
that aims to review all healthcare evidence and publishes
the reviews electronically. The consumer network website
summarizes the reviews for consumers.
- MEDLINEplus at
www.medlineplus.gov has extensive health information
for consumers from the National Library of Medicine and
the National Institutes of Health.
- The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA)
consumer website at
www.healthchoices.org explains how to choose a health
plan based on quality. Includes a Health Plan Report Card.
- Joint Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JACHO)
website at
www.jacho.org has information on the quality of care
at your local health care facility. JACHO evaluates the
quality and safety of care for health care organizations.
- Kaiser Permanente’s Care Management Institute,
www.kpcmi.org, establishes care management programs
for patients based on the best available evidence.
These messages were developed by the National Consumers
League (NCL), in partnership with Kaiser Permanente, to
educate consumers about the concept of Evidence-Based Medicine
(EBM). Focus group research was initially conducted in 2001
to explore patient-physician communication and examine awareness
and attitudes among both patients and physicians regarding
EBM. This initial focus groups research found that consumers
currently do not understand and mistrust EBM and there is
a need for education on EBM. The consumer messages on EBM
were drafted in early 2002 with the assistance of GYMR,
a public relations firm experienced in health care issues.
The draft messages were reviewed by an Advisory Committee,
which provided guidance and counsel on the key themes of
the messages. The Advisory Committee was composed of experienced
physicians, researchers, and consumer advocates all knowledgeable
about health care communication and quality of care issues.
Based on the discussions and suggestions of the Advisory
Committee the draft messages were revised. In June 2002
the revised messages were tested in focus groups of patients
as well as a group of physicians. The messages were well
received and few revisions were made to the messages based
on the focus group research.
