Contents
Using HealthcareInformation to
Help Make
Treatment
Decisions
Understanding
Different Types
of Healthcare
Research
Making Your
Decision
Making Your Decision
How Do You Make Your Decision?
Once you have found out as much as you can about your diagnosis—and perhaps, sought out a second opinion—it's time to talk to your doctor or other healthcare provider about the information you have gathered. You may want to create a list of questions to ask.
Online Resource: Your Guide to Choosing Quality Healthcare: Choosing Treatments, from the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, offers some sample questions to get you going.
Go to: http://www.ahrq.gov/consumer/qntool.htm
Now is the time to start making decisions with your doctor or other healthcare provider about how to treat or manage your condition. Find out how you can make the right decision:
- Check Out Your Options
- Look at the Benefits and Risks of Each Treatment
- Develop a Treatment Plan with Your Doctor
Check Out Your Options
Evidence-based medicine, in the form of clinical practice guidelines, can help you and your doctor or other healthcare provider decide what would be the best treatment for you. Selecting the best treatment is a decision that depends on the following:
- What research shows has worked or hasn't worked for your particular condition.
- How you feel about the different treatments.
Online Resource: The National Guideline Clearinghouse™ offers hundreds of evidence-based clinical practice guidelines for treating the most common medical conditions.
Go to: http://www.guideline.gov
Look at the Benefits and Risks of Each Treatment
Every treatment has benefits and risks. There are tradeoffs to be made—and they all depend on what you determine is best for you, both medically and psychologically. How do you decide which treatment is best for you? What matters is what matters most to you.
Example: If you are an older man with a prostate problem that makes it hard to urinate, there are a number of treatments a doctor or other healthcare provider can recommend. Surgery is one option; medicine is another.
Online Resource: Your Guide to Choosing Quality Health Care: Choosing Treatments, from the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, gives good advice on how to make a treatment decision.
Go to: http://www.ahrq.gov/consumer/qntool.htm
Develop a Treatment Plan with Your Doctor
Once you and your doctor or other healthcare provider have decided on a treatment, you can work together to develop a treatment plan—one you know you can stick to. Studies have shown that people who take an active role in developing their treatment plan have a better chance of staying on course and feel more satisfied with their care.
How to Make the Visit Work: You may want to prepare a list of questions before your visit, and then write down the answers you receive during your visit. Or, you might consider bringing along a friend or a family member with you. That way, if you have difficulty remembering everything that your doctor or other healthcare provider tells you, you can refer to your notes or ask your companion. If you have information that you have found on the Internet, bring it with you and ask your doctor or other healthcare provider to discuss it with you.
