Patient Empowerment

Lee A. Resnick, MD, FAAFP “Patient empowerment,” “patient-centered care, “patient-focused care,” and “shared medical decision-making” are among a growing number of terms intended to shift the power and control of healthcare decisions from physicians to patients. The concepts are, for all intents and purposes, accepted as “good.” It is merely assumed that empowered patients are better off than those who defer control of their healthcare decisions to their clinicians. Despite an almost revolutionary change in …

Read More