Consumers & Patients (includes healthfinder® consumer health gateway)
Aspirin: Preventing Heart Attacks
Common Uterine Conditions: Options for Treatment
Do You Smoke? Do You Want to Quit?
Five Steps to Safer Health Care
20 Tips to Help Prevent Medical Errors (PDF File, 222 KB)
Understanding Your Body
Ways You Can Help Your Family Prevent Medical Errors! (PDF File, 203 KB)
Improving Health Care Quality: A Guide for Patients and Families (PDF File, 75 KB)
Consumer Health Informatics and Patient Decisionmaking
Expanding Patient-Centered Care To Empower Patients and Assist Providers
Improving Consumer Choice
Your Guide to Choosing Quality Health Care: Summary
Quick Tips—When Getting Medical Tests
Quick Tips—When Getting a Prescription
Quick Tips—When Planning for Surgery
Quick Tips—When Talking with You Doctor
Research Activities, April 2004:
Problems in self-management of congestive heart failure may contribute to ER visits and poor prognosis
Clinicians and patients responded quickly to recent evidence of harms associated with hormone therapy
Research Activities, March 2004:
Understanding the implications of brain death for a patient's recovery may help families decide about donating organs
Research Activities, February 2004:
Better communication of disease-specific and general health information can improve diabetes self-care
Task Force working group encourages patient-provider partnership in making decisions about preventive care
Research Activities, January 2004:
Elderly, low-income black women need more education about the importance of breast cancer screening
Research Activities, December 2003:
Parental misconceptions about antibiotic use are widespread, but they may be modifiable by clinicians and the media
Research Activities, November 2003:
Celebrity spokespersons can have a substantial impact on cancer screening rates
Research Activities, September 2003:
Study finds that overall use of DNR orders changed little after passage of the Patient Self-Determination Act
Recommended medications are underused among elderly people with diabetes
Research Activities, June 2003:
Diabetes education programs can help patients manage their condition, especially if they are recently diagnosed
Educating older men and women about the dangers of hypertension could increase their blood pressure control
Research Activities, December 2002:
Back pain patients seen by chiropractors receive more information and advice than those seen by physicians
Research Activities, September 2002:
Consumers may be willing to accept restrictions on provider access in exchange for high quality of care
Research Activities, May 2002:
Decision aids minimize conflict for patients regarding colorectal cancer screening decisions
Research Activities, April 2002:
Poor asthma knowledge and exposure to indoor allergens complicate recovery after an acute asthma episode
Misconceptions about cancer clinical trials occur often among patients and researchers
Having a regular source of primary care helps adults with diabetes manage their diet and improve glucose control
Patients welcome discussions with their doctors about smoking and other behaviors that affect their health
Consumers perceive quality differences across health systems and factor these differences into health plan choices
Research Activities, February 2002:
Information technology can empower parents and children to take an active role in health care decisionmaking
Researchers examine demand for and use of consumer health information
Research Activities, October 2001:
Researchers examine the impact of consumer health plan reports on plan choices and quality of care
Research Activities, July 2001:
Organ donations increase when families have good information about the donation process
Research Activities, June 2001:
Consumer input is a critical component of efforts to improve the quality of behavioral health care services
Research Activities, March 2001:
Programs that successfully reduce or prevent smoking and alter sedentary lifestyles can reduce hospital admissions
Interactive video games can motivate health behavior change in children and adolescents
Research Activities, November 2000:
Patients can use an interactive video program to help them make decisions about back surgery
Use of a risk message may be an effective way to present health plan report card information to consumers
Research Activities, September 2000:
ICU patients are more likely to receive the care they prefer if they discuss it with their doctor
Washington State employees find CAHPS® health plan assessments to be easy to understand and useful
Research Activities, August 2000:
Bystanders inexperienced in CPR can use chest compression alone to revive victims of cardiac arrest
Patients often do not understand information about the financial incentives offered to physicians by insurers
Research Activities, June 2000:
More is not necessarily better when it comes to patient education materials
Research Activities, February 2000:
Level of education
attained by patients is important when evaluating physician performance
Research Activities, January 2000:
Doctors and patients
need to ask each other more questions about medications
Patients and doctors
need to weigh the risks and benefits of simultaneous versus staged bilateral
knee replacement
Informed consumers can
play a vital role in improving health care quality