The Prepared Patient is our monthly series designed to help Americans participate more fully in their health care and benefit from medical advances and treatment options. 

A prepared patient (1) seeks out health information, (2) knows when to call the doctor and how to communicate with their health care providers, (3) can navigate health care services effectively and (4) manages chronic conditions with confidence. 

We have gathered resources to assist patients/health consumers in becoming more prepared.  Here is our “411”….a directory of resources and assistance that we will add to regularly, to guide and support patients as they search for the best answers to their health care questions and concerns.

No More Dancing Alone

Every day we hear about wonderful medical advances that offer the promise of better prevention, treatment and cures for disease.  I’m struck however – both personally and in accounts of those I interview – with how much the impact of these advances depends on our willingness and ability to actively participate in our care. 

Advances in surgery mean that we quickly return home from the hospital but are then in charge of the regimens that will return us to health.  Similarly, the effectiveness of the drugs that have transformed HIV/AIDS, asthma and diabetes into chronic conditions rely on us to manage complicated regimens and make substantial changes in our behavior.  The explosion of knowledge means that we often have a different specialist to treat each body part, leaving us to coordinate our care among them.

Americans appreciate the knowledge and skill of professionals who cure their illnesses and allow them to live well even with disease.  But most of us don’t realize how much responsibility now rests in our own hands.  In a 2007 study, University of Oregon researcher Judy Hibbard found that while 23 percent of respondents in a national sample had adopted new health-related behaviors, they were not sure they would be able to maintain them in the face of stress or health crises.  The remaining 77 percent ranged from believing they could remain passive recipients of care, to having some facts but not having the confidence and skill to act on them.

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