Patient empowerment may be the new practice of the day, but have we gone too far? Is this what all patients want?
More than 8,000 hospitalized patients at the University of Chicago were interviewed by researchers for a study looking at this very question. When it came to medical decisions, almost all the respondents wanted their doctors to offer choices and consider their opinions. But a majority of patients — two out of three — also preferred that their doctors make the final decisions regarding their medical care.
“The data says decisively that most patients don’t want to make these decisions on their buy ventolin australia own” said Dr. Farr A. Curlin, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Chicago and one of the authors of the study.
Patients realize that decisions must be made not only on accumulated medical evidence and studies as well as knowledge, but on experience as well. Having the power to make decisions is one thing, but making the right choice that will ultimately effect him/her can really only sensibly made by fully understanding all ramifications. It’s one thing to accept risks but it is important to understand what all the risks are!
What do you think?
