share: Patient Empowerment in Medicine - An Idea Whose Time Has Definitely Come

Dear Michelle, I truly appreciate your posting and agree with many of your observations.

The word EMPOWHER describes the timeliness of this site. A few years ago, the Internet opened the flood and access to information to thousands of sites that offer information about every aspect of our lives! But it also opened the gates to misleading information, false promises and exagerated claims. I call this the "wild, wild west" of the knowledge era.

Women are lucky to have a community like EmpowHer.com where top experts and qualified moderators can coach, educate and guide along with understanding multiple issues that affect women (young and old) in health, healing and other supporting areas. We are at the casp of revolution in healthcare. Our audience is too smart to accept "business as usual" when it comes to their health. We are also at the cutting edge of what health care will become. The paradigm is shifting and women will be more empowered to define the path to healing and wellness.

Our healthcare system will not longer sustain a "disease-centered" model of care. I hope this community will continue to help women gain a better understanding of the POWER they hold in their hands to achieve a greater quality of life, achieve healing, and contribute to sustaining the values of the human race.

Michelle

Thanks for this - I really like it.

I have found that there are two kinds of medical professionals - those who don't like empowered (I find it really hard to write 'empower' now without the H!) patients because they are either threatened by a knowledgeable patient because they have questions prepared and ask further questions when given medical advice. No Yes Men here! These patients take time and make a doctor work a little harder! Some doctors also simply don't like patients who may challenge them a little. They enjoy their authority and don't like it questioned.

Then there are the doctors who value and appreciate a patient who comes in well-prepared and well-read. This doesn't mean that we, as patients, are educated in the same manner as trained doctors, nor have we their expertize or experience, but it means we access the information out there and put it to good use, in an intelligent, informed and well-researched manner. A doctor who appreciates this kind of empowered patient is the one to keep - the first kind is the one to move on from.

A doctor patient relationship is not a parent-child kind of relationship, nor is it a authoritative-submissive one. To work effectively, it has to be a team effort, with both parties working together, for health and wellness.

Thank you!

Dear Michelle,

Well said and timely. I am a family physician who blissfully cares for exactly this kind of empowhered (and empowhimed?) persons! There are always at least two options in every situation, and usually many many options. Most of the time, the variables to be considered include ones that only the person living their life can weigh (sometimes with input from their family and friends). Only the people affected can evaluate issues of autonomy, privacy, loneliness, need for care, willingness to take on risk and personal responsibility, impact of decisions on relationships, family resources, and spirituality. I really enjoy engaging with people to bring their values to the table as they decide how to manage their own health. I recommend that everyone have a "health committee". The person needs to be the chair and then interview and hire folks to serve on the committee. The key is to see these people as advisors and helpers, to stay in charge yourself, and to never forget who hired these people and who can replace them should the need arise.

Again, thank you for your words and wisdom

Elizabeth Allemann, MD
Columbia Missouri

Michelle,

This is excellent. I have made it my personal mission to make sure that my friends and well.. any one I meet willing to talk about health, know what all their options are.

I refer people to this site all the time, I am so grateful for it.

Thanks.

You are on the mark Michelle. We have to be our own advocates. I love Dr. Elizabeth's comments about a comittee.I have told friends and family when they complain about a practictioner to fire them. Doctors fire patients too. They may couch it with not being able to get an appointment, or recommending a specialist, but they want to fire patients too. You need a relationship with your health care provider that works.

Empowerment is a big concept, and one that not all embrace as easiliy as others. that said, we believe in the power of women together to support and encourage each other to become our own best health and wellness advocates. Women are not only consumers, but caregivers, working women and (like Michelle) community leaders. It seems as though regardless of education, that we're dumbfounded when we go to the doctor's office, wanting everything to be just fine. We forget the questions, we take "no" for an answer, and we get discouraged by the limitations of modern medicine. And those limitations are real.

If you like this topic and want to engage with other women like those here, feel free to join our radio show and on-line health salon at www.realwomenonhealth.blogspot.com and www.blogtalkradio.com/realwomenonhealth

Real Women on Health!

I believe it is always important to ask questions. But I also think that it is both arrogant and ignorant to think that by typing the name of your treatment options into google you are qualified to enter into a debate with someone who has had at least 5 years of medical training. Informed consent can be taken so far, with the weighing up of risks that you are more or less willing to take, but in the end you are 5 years of training lesser than the doctor you are dealing with. You will not find a doctor who will purposefully treat you ineffectually. Nor is it easy to find one who make careless and dangerous mistakes regularly.

My experience has been that most health care providers will diagnose you with something appropriate for what they know how to do. When you walk into a clinic, you choose the type of care you're going to get. So it's critically important to choose your provider intelligently. Many thanks to everyone at empowher.com for helping us make informed choices.

Hi Michelle - Your comments rang in my ears today as I experienced a frustrating meeting with a healthcare practitioner. It's been six weeks since I was diagnosed with a chronic form of leukemia, and in that time I've marshaled an incredible range of resources for education and support, including the wonderful team at EmpowHer. It means so much to not have to take these journeys alone.

As just one example, today was the first time anyone in this medical group provided any support resources, and what they advised was that I visit a specific website for information. They're about six weeks late. I first visited the site the day after diagnosis because that's when it was most needed. The website has provided access to resources including an international webcast with one of the top specialists in my form of leukemia, invaluable drug therapy management tips from other patients, inspiring success stories from those who've come before me, and more. I've also used information from the site to develop blog topics that have helped educate others.

Fortunately, I learned a long time ago that you have to find healthcare practitioners who welcome a partnership if you want to optimize your health, and I have an appointment tomorrow with a physician who "gets" it, welcomes my questions and works with me.

It can be a hassle to change doctors and to go through the process of vetting your caregivers. When your health is at stake, however, the hassles are a small price to pay to obtain practitioners who believe in patient empowerment.

Thanks again, Michelle, for taking this stand and educating others.

Take good care,
Pat

Thank you Michelle for a great article.

You must be an active member of your healthcare team. I go the extra mile to educate myself about my health issues so that I can speak intelligently and readily understand the terminology the doctors use. I also go the extra mile to research any procedure or health issue so that I am well aware of the benefits and dangers. I am not afraid to ask questions. I come to every appointment with my questions typed and copies of any new labs/tests for all of my doctors. I keep a health notebook and detailed records so that I can answer any question.

My old doctor told me to become an expert on any condition I had to protect myself, because doctors can't know everything. It has been the best medical advice I ever received.

Reta