Patient empowerment

The patient empowerment concept assumes that to be truly healthy people must bring about changes in their social situations and in the environment that influences their lives, not only in their personal behavior. See patient rights for a discussion of the legal and human rights of patients, which are significantly less controversal.

Key tenets of the patient empowerment philosophy:

• Patients cannot be forced to follow a lifestyle dictated by others.
• Preventive medicine requires patient empowerment for it to be effective.
• Patients as consumers have the right to make their own choices and the ability to act on them.

References

• Moynihan R, Smith R. Too much medicine? BMJ. 2002 Apr 13;324(7342):859-60. PMID: 11950716 BMJ Online

External link

• Patient Empowerment