Patient Empowerment & Patient Rights


To be healthy, you have to take charge of your health care. Here are some tips for making informed treatment decisions. If you are weighing the pros and cons of taking a drug, consider doing the following:

Research your Condition and Drug Treatment

1-Discuss the benefits and the potential side effects with the doctor who is prescribing the drug to you  For example, ask your doctor why he or she thinks this particular drug will work for you. Why this brand? Why this dosage?
  
2-Research the drug and condition on your own. Here are some ways to do that:

  1. Find out more about the drug and/or your diagnosis from online health information resource for patients published by the National Library of Medicine (NLM): MedlinePlus .
  2. Read the most current label for the drug at NLM's "Daily Med" database.
  3. Read consumer reviews on AskaPatient.com and keep an open attitude, as everyone’s body chemistry is different; what works for some may not work for all. See how the drug has fared for others in your age group or have used it for the same reasons that you are using it. You can do this using the ‘advanced search’ feature.
  4. Review "FDA Adverse Event Reports" or "Review Summaries" at the top of most of the drug information pages.
  5. Find out when the drug was first approved at Drugs@FDA database . Was it approved recently or has it been around for a long time?
  6. Research the drug and/or diagnosis through a search of the medical literature; you can do this at PubMed or Google Scholar.
  7. If you have a pill in your medicine cabinet and need to identify it, you can do a visual search or an imprint code search at Drugs.com. 
  8. Look at sites that profile controversial drugs, such as worstpills.org
  9. Look at other sites that provide prescription drug information. AskaPatient's Drug Resources page describes many of them.

3-If you and your doctor agree that you should take the drug, read the information provided by the drug manufacturer that is provided with the prescription. Take it as prescribed, noticing any side effects or benefits you are experiencing, and how far into the medicine regimen the side effects started to occur.

4-  Share your experience with your doctor, especially if you have negative side effects. Is it working? Great! Report your success to your doctor and at AskaPatient.com
If side effects are particularly severe, you may be suffering from an “adverse event”.  You may report these yourself using the FDA's Medwatch  reporting program or your doctor may use the "health professional" form to report the drug reaction under the  FDA Medwatch program. 

5- If you are a senior or are taking care of a older patient, consider finding or becoming an elder advocate.

Resources for Patient Advocacy:

Public Citizen's Health Research Group: Publications and Advocacy Initiatives

 https://www.citizen.org/topic/health-care/ : Health Care
Public Citizen advocates for stronger physician accountability; safer, more effective drugs, medical devices and dietary supplements; and equitable health care.

Drug Information from Public Citizen: https://www.citizen.org/topic/safe-affordable-drugs-devices/drugs/ and newsletter and database WorstPills.org

Medical Record Privacy From EPIC (Electronic Privacy Information Center) news and discussion of such topics as national identification numbers, safegaurding DNA and your genetic data, legislation, and research.

NY State Dept. of Health Provides consumer guides and links to useful information on your rights as a patient. Examples include patients bill of rights, rights of nursing home residents, rights of hospital patients, advance directives information, palliative care, funeral information for consumers, and more. While some of the publications apply only to residents of New York State, many apply to all consumers in the U.S.

Women's Health Care Rights: National Women's Health Network

Patients for Affordable Drugs: Patients For Affordable Drugs is an independent national patient organization focused exclusively on achieving policy changes to lower the price of prescription drugs.