Informed consent for any medical procedure is a critical patient care process. When properly performed, the informed consent process provides a patient with the information needed to make rational decisions and promotes patient autonomy. Many studies have documented limitations in current informed consent methodologies. These limitations include poor comprehension, inadequate time for discussion, poor documentation […]
By the year 2020, over 157 million people will have chronic diseases and will be seeking medical care1. When you add this to the fact that there is a shortage of primary care providers, healthcare coaches become an integral part of population health. I am a pharmacist with a burning passion to empower patients. I […]
Editor’s introduction: A serious gap exists between what providers intend to convey and what patients and families understand.The fact is the lack of health literacy costs the U.S. more than $100 billion annually, according to the Victor Dzau, president of the Institute of Medicine. Speaking at the IOM’s Roundtable on Health Literacy, which was convened […]