I recently read an interesting article about empowering patients that was published in the magazine Black Enterprise.1 The article was informative, especially for the nonmedical audience to which it was targeted. The author presented 10 rules from experts that would help patients become more informed consumers of healthcare services while, at the same time, giving them more responsibility in the decision-making process related to their individual health. You might want to consider sharing these rules with your patients.
1. The first rule is obvious-educate yourself about your illness. Patients should do their homework before appearing at the provider's office and write down questions so they don't forget to mention something.
2. Next is to schedule your appointment at an optimal time. The first slot in the morning, first slot after lunch, or last slot of the day might buy the patient more than 10 to 15 minutes with the provider.
3. Instruct the patient to form a partnership with the provider that is mutually respectful. Healthcare should be a two-way interchange.
4. Remind the patient to ask questions.
5. Encourage the patient to assert yourself when necessary. When something does not seem right, speak up.
6. In our complex health system, know your insurance coverage. This will reduce the patient's out-of-pocket expenses and minimize potential "headaches" after the fact. Know what services are covered and what services are not covered.
7. Honesty and disclosure are important elements in ensuring that the patient receives appropriate care so tell the patient to share your health history. Secrecy can be harmful in healthcare interactions.
8. Acknowledge that health disparities exist-overcome the race, gender, and age bias. Being African American, female, or older places a patient at greater risk for not receiving standard care. Patients should feel secure in reporting such situations.
9. If experiencing a major illness, get a second (or third) opinion, particularly if the health environment is not conducive to healing, if treatment is going to be long term, or if a treatment is not working as expected.
10. Finally, negotiate the bill for patients who are uninsured or underinsured. Patients should be comfortable in attempting to make a better deal.
I changed the term in these recommendations to "provider" versus the term used by the author, which consistently was "physician" with no mention of other healthcare professionals who might have similar roles.
I posted a blog in April on the Hope Street Group2 site about empowering patients. Providers and patients have the "I-You" exchange every day.
Provider: "I am not responsible for your health."
Patient: "But you are the expert and I don't know anything."
Provider: "I am not with you 24/7. I do not make decisions about your behaviors that can affect your health."
Patient: "Why should I come to you if you aren't going to help me?"
Provider: "I will help you obtain the knowledge and skills you need to make informed decisions about your health. But it is up to you to do."
Transfer some degree of responsibility for overall health back to individual patients who are independent and cognitively and intellectually able to make decisions about personal healthcare.
Jamesetta Newland, PhD, RN, FNP-BC, FAANP, FNAP
Editor-in-Chief [email protected]
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