Making Informed Decisions for Better Health

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.Everyone wants improved health care. On TV, in newspapers and magazines and, of course, on the Internet, we can find a vast amount of information about efforts being made to improve our care. As we listen and read, certain terms keep popping up – terms like health outcomes, evidence-based medicine (EBM), and patient-centered care.
In this article, we offer explanations of these three key terms and their contributions to improving health care and, more specifically, healthcare as practiced through laboratory medicine. Together, these terms describe a range of care that you and your health practitioner may consider in making decisions about testing and treatment options. Understanding these terms, and their sometimes competing priorities, may help you to discuss your testing options with your health practitioner and make informed choices to improve your care.
Read the sections below to review these concepts as well as how they play into making informed decisions about your or a loved one’s health care as well as additional resources.
Key Terms
The Spectrum of Care
Making Sense of it All
Resources
Time constraints, comfort in asking questions, confidence in understanding the answers, or simply forgetting to ask the important questions will sometimes compel many people to look for health and medical information from sources other than their health care practitioners. There is a wealth of information available on the Internet that you can use to help guide your understanding of laboratory testing and the concepts described in this article. However, anyone can create a website or a blog, so it’s important to get information from reliable and reputable sources, such as government agencies, professional associations, major healthcare organizations, and universities.
Testing.com provides information on specific laboratory tests. You can access these by using the menus or the search feature at the top of any page.
Below are listed several other websites of varying levels of patient friendliness that address the topics covered in this article. They may be a good place to start when beginning to search for additional information on the web.
The Joint Commission: “What Did the Doctor Say?” Improving Health Literacy to Protect Patient Safety
Institute for Patient- and Family-Centered Care
American Medical Association: Improving Health Outcomes
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ): Improving Your Health Literacy
AHRQ: Expanding Patient-Centered Care To Empower Patients and Assist Providers
View Sources
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Bruns D. Laboratory-related Outcomes in Healthcare. Clinical Chemistry August 2001 vol. 47 no. 8, 1547-1552. Available online at http://www.clinchem.org/content/47/8/1547.full. Accessed January 2014.
Madsen J, et al. More Studies on Outcomes Using Biochemical Diagnostic Tests Are Needed: Findings from the Danish Society of Clinical Biochemistry. Clinical Chemistry July 2008 vol. 54 no. 7, 1254-1256. Available online at http://www.clinchem.org/content/54/7/1254.full. Accessed January 2014.
Oosterhuis W, et al. Evidence-Based Guidelines in Laboratory Medicine: Principles and Methods. Clinical Chemistry May 2004 vol. 50 no. 5, 806-818. Available online at http://www.clinchem.org/content/50/5/806.full. Accessed January 2014.
Genevra Pittman. Personalized risk info helps with screening decision. Reuters, Wed Feb 27, 2013. Available online at http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/28/us-risk-decision-idUSBRE91R04A20130228. Accessed January 2014.
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Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. What is Comparative Effectiveness Research? Available online at http://effectivehealthcare.ahrq.gov/index.cfm/what-is-comparative-effectiveness-research1/. Accessed January 2014.
Karen Davis, PhD, Stephen C. Schoenbaum, MD, Anne-Marie Audet, MD. A 2020 Vision of Patient-Centered Primary Care. J Gen Intern Med. 2005 October; 20(10): 953–957. Available online at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1490238/. Accessed January 2014.
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Kindig D, Ed. What Is Population Health? University of Wisconsin, Population Health Sciences. Available online at http://www.improvingpopulationhealth.org/blog/what-is-population-health.html. Accessed January 2014.
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Kathleen Kraft, Wolfgang Hoffmann. Challenge of evidence in individualized medicine. Personalized Medicine Jan 2012, Vol. 9, No. 1, Pp 65-71. Available online at http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/756263. Accessed January 2014.
Bergeson S, Dean J. A Systems Approach to Patient-Centered Care. JAMA. 2006;296(23):2848-2851. Available online at http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=204579. Accessed January 2014.
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Manary M, et al. Perspective: The Patient Experience and Health Outcomes. N Engl J Med 2013; 368:201-203. Available online at http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1211775. Accessed January 2014.
(May 2009) Jonathan Belsey. What is evidence-based medicine? Available online at http://www.medicine.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/painres/download/whatis/ebm.pdf. Accessed January 2014.
Brandi White. Making Evidence-Based Medicine Doable in Everyday Practice. Fam Pract Manag. 2004 Feb;11(2):51-58. Available online at http://www.aafp.org/fpm/2004/0200/p51.html. Accessed January 2014.
Romana H. Is Evidence-Based Medicine Patient-Centered and Is Patient-Centered Care Evidence-Based? Health Serv Resv.41(1); Feb 2006 PMC1681528, Available online at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1681528/. Accessed January 2014.