Making Informed Medical Decisions

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Making Informed Medical Decisions Where to Look and How to Use What You Find

By Lucy Thomas, Nancy Oster, Darol Joseff, MD
July 2000
Pages: 373
ISBN 10: 1-56592-459-2 | ISBN 13: 9781565924598

Book description

You are involved in healthcare decisions--whether you want to be or not. Making Informed Medical Decisions acts like a friendly reference librarian, explaining: tips for researching for someone else, medical journal articles, statistics and risk, standard treatment options, complementary treatments, clinical trial, making an ally of your doctor, and determining your own best course. Authors Oster, Thomas, and Joseff--patient advocate, medical librarian, and medical doctor--also share examples and stories.
Full Description

It's no secret that millions of us are more involved in our own health care decisions--whether we want to be or not. We may be looking for the latest advance that might give us an edge in survival; looking for complementary treatments to help a chronic condition; investigating whether a treatment recommendation is good medicine or cost-cutting; studying to understand what the doctor told us in our allotted ten- minute visit; or trying to understand if a media story or pharmaceutical ad applies to our situation. However, we're starting our search without much context of what we're looking for or understanding of how we might make best use of the array of resources. Making Informed Medical Decisions illuminates the process. Its subject matter includes:

Tips for researching for someone else
Reading a journal article (and understanding what it says)
Making practical sense of statistics and risk
Understanding variations and advances in standard treatment options
Exploring complementary treatments
Locating a likely clinical trial
Making a powerful ally of your doctor

Authors Oster, Thomas, and Joseff offer the shared viewpoints of patient advocate, medical librarian, and medical doctor--each of whom is dedicated to teaching and empowering. Stories from dozens of patients and family members looking for their own answers are included.

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Cover | Table of Contents | Index

Book details

First Edition: July 2000
ISBN: 1-56592-459-2
Pages: 373

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Media reviews

"If all consumers of health care could only locate all the relevant medical data they required and evaluate it, deciphering the myriad statistics and risks associated with treatments, there might be fewer disappointing outcomes. This consumer-friendly book--written by a physician, a medical librarian and a patient advocate who is also an expert on Internet medical research--serves as an introduction to the often bewildering world of medical information.

More than a mere listing of resources, the book offers guidelines and commentaries by patients who asked the right questions (and by some who were afriad to ask). All of it is designed to enable readers to participate more actively in their own health care." --New York Times, July 3, 2001

Named one of top 24 Best Consumer Health Books of 2000 by Library Journal

Trying to understand a disease or condition so that one can make
decisions about treatment and participate in care is not easy, and
physicians do not always have the inclination or time to educate
patients. Here a medical writer, a medical librarian, and a physician
take users through the research process and teach them how to
interpret what they find. A very useful source for novice researchers,
the book includes a questionnaire to help users focus their research,
a glossary of medical terms, and a resource list covering organizations,
publications, and web sites.
--Library Journal

The authors have met their goal of helping consumers to be
informed when making health care decisions. Knowing that
ultimately it is the patient who must be making the decisions
that affect all aspects of his or her life, this book will offer hope
and opportunities to access the best information currently
available.
--ForeWord Magazine

"Recent changes in the healthcare environment make it imperative that patients and their families take more responsibility in their decision making. Patients are oft-times overwhelmed by information obtained from various sources, as well as by the associated medical terminology, and sometimes conflicting recommendations from different physicians. Making Informed Medical Decisions can certainly serve as a 'hands on' tool. The entire book is extremely well organized and easily readable. OncoLink highly recommends this book." --Li Liu, MD, Univ. of Pennsylvania Cancer Center

"This book is targeted to members of the general public for the purpose of guiding their search for answers relating to health care. It is well-organized, easily readable, and a great resource that can be used to prepare questions when a a health care decision needs to be made." --AORN Journal (Association of periOperative Registered Nurses)

"Making Informed Medical Decisions is full of practical advice and tools for finding medical information and then using it to make healthcare decisions. I was particularly impressed with the sections on understanding treatment options and evaluating statistics. I just can't say enough good things about this book and others in this series. They are well-researched, thorough and up to date, yet easy to read." --Redwood Health Letter

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