Better Health Care through Patient Education

Understanding your Patient Rights

Mar 29, 2009 Terry Zeigler

Patients need to understand their patient rights and become their own advocate when dealing with the health care system.

There is a paradigm shift occurring in the health care delivery system. Rather than patients accepting doctor’s recommendations without question, the better paradigm is for patients to actively partner with their physician, understand all of their treatment options, and then make an informed decision based on the information they have been given.

The patient is the best advocate for his/her own health care. Patients need to understand that the choices for their health care are theirs alone to make. The physician can recommend the treatment options, but the final decision belongs to the patient.

Autonomy

This concept is based on the medical principles of autonomy and informed consent. In their book Health Care Ethics: Principles and Problems, Garret, Baille, and Garret (1993) defined autonomy as “one human person does not have authority and should not have power over another person” . Autonomy is a basic right of all patients, but is a basic patient right that many patients are not aware of.

Autonomy is based on respect and does not allow for anyone to take control over the decisions of a patient. Understanding the implications of this principle should empower patients to take part in any decisions that are made regarding their health care.

Closely linked to autonomy is the principle of informed consent. Understanding informed consent is critical for all patients as this is the cornerstone of good patient care. Physicians are not allowed to treat any patient without informed consent.

Informed Consent

Informed consent is based on a number of key components. The first is that the patient must be competent and must be able to understand the consequences of the treatment and the consequences of his or her decision to either accept or reject the treatment. The patient also must be provided with the following:

• The diagnosis
• The nature and purpose of the proposed treatment
• The known risks and consequences of the proposed treatment
• The benefits to be expected from the proposed treatment
• All alternative treatments that might reasonably be used
• The prognosis if no treatment is given
• All costs including pain and economic costs

Another key component of informed consent is that the information provided to the patient must be understandable to the patient. In other words, medical or technical language needs to be translated by the physician into understandable language for the patient. If the patient does not understand what is being said, the patient needs to request that it be restated again using different terminology.

Patients Should Come Prepared to Appointments

To help make the most of the patient’s time during a medical appointment, the patient should write down questions ahead of time and bring them in to the appointment. The patient should come prepared to ask questions, and rephrase questions if the answers are not completely understood. Last, remember that all of the information listed above needs to be answered by the medical professional before any treatment is agreed to.

Autonomy and informed consent are even more critical for patients to understand in today’s world of managed health care when appointment times are shorter, more difficult to schedule, and the physicians rushed during the appointment time. Patients who understand their rights, come prepared with questions, and get all of their questions answered are in a better place to make informed decisions about their health care.

The copyright of the article Better Health Care through Patient Education in General Medicine is owned by Terry Zeigler. Permission to republish Better Health Care through Patient Education in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.