The Patient-Doctor Partnership

There are two very different skill sets at a typical primary care visit:

• the doctor's skill set: a huge overview of many body systems and body types, and experience with many common presentations of disease, and probably several unusual ones
• the patients' skill set: varying amounts of understanding of the human body, but a good understanding of what is normal and not normal in their own bodies

What may be missing in this scenario is very specific information about the specific symptomology the patient is experiencing. If the symptoms cluster points to something common, or something the clinician dealt with before, no problem. But what if it belongs to something less common, such as late-stage Lyme disease?

In emerging diseases, where research is still ongoing, it would be impossible for every doctor to keep up with every new finding on every disease. Even specialists have their sub-specialties. But patients have only one set of symptoms to understand -- their own. If they are healthy enough and literate enough to research their own symptoms, they can assist in their own diagnosis.

But patients have more than ever to gain by decoding the latest health news and researching their own medical care.

“I don’t think people have a choice — it’s mandatory,” said Dr. Marisa Weiss, a breast oncologist in Pennsylvania who founded the Web site breastcancer.org. “The time you have with your doctor is getting progressively shorter, yet there’s so much more to talk about. You have to prepare for this important meeting.”

There is the potential for a new model of patient care, where decision-making is transparent and both sides contribute information, and the final decision is left to the patient.

“We need to help them sort through it, not discourage the use of information,” he said. “We have to acknowledge that patients do this research. It’s important that instead of fighting against it, that we join them and become their coaches in the process.” -- Dr. Shalom Kalnicki, chairman of Radiation Oncology at the Montefiore-Einstein Cancer Center

Parker-Pope, T. (2008, September 29). You're sick. now what? knowledge is power [Electronic edition]. New York Times. Retrieved October 12, 2008 from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/30/health/30pati.html?ref=healthspecial