Be Involved in Your Health Care
Key Message for Veterans:
- Be involved in your health care. There are many ways to take an active role. Work with your health care team to improve your health.
Patient Handout
Be Involved in Your Health Care
- Give your treatment team accurate and complete information about:
- Your current health problems
- Your concerns about your health
- Past illnesses
- Past hospitalizations
- Your medicines, including over-the-counter and herbals
- Other matters related to your health
- Plan ahead for your visits by writing down the questions and concerns you want to
raise. Share them with your provider at the beginning of each visit.
- Share your ideas and beliefs about your health problems and treatments with your
provider.
- Let your health care team know about stressful aspects of your life that affect
your health and ability to manage daily activities.
- Participate in decisions about your health care and treatments with your provider.
- Let your provider know the treatment options you prefer.
- Ask questions about anything that's not clear to you.
- Speak up if you have any concerns about the care you are receiving or if you think
something is wrong.
- Ask for written information and instructions that you can keep and share with your
family or caregiver.
- Gather information about your health problems from your treatment team, the VA library,
and websites such as My HealtheVet.
- Know your medicines and why you take each one.
- Ask when and how you will get results of any tests or treatments.
- Make sure you have the name and telephone number of a person to call if you have
a problem.
- Let your team know if you face any obstacles to your care or if your condition changes.
- Have a family member or friend come with you to your appointment to help you, if
you wish.
More Information:
* Indicates that the link leads to a non-VA website. The VA is not responsible for
the content that is on the site.
If you have questions or interest in making a healthy living change, please
see your primary care team at the VA facility in which you receive health care.
Supporting Information:
Definitions:
- Veterans Health Education: In VHA, Veteranshealth education encompasses patient education and is defined as "any combination of information, education, and other strategies designed to help Veterans to:
- Enhance their quality of life through health promotion and disease prevention.
- Actively partner with their providers and health care teams.
- Engage needed family and social support systems.
- Develop self-management and coping skills.
- Access and appropriately utilize VHA healthcare resources across the continuum of care (access, health promotion and disease prevention, primary care, specialty care, diagnosis, treatment, self-management, inpatient care, rehabilitation and long-term care, and referral to VHA and community resources)."
VA Policy:
VHA Handbook 1102.04, Veterans Health Education and Information Core Program Requirements
http://www1.va.gov/vhapublications/ViewPublication.asp?pub_ID=2052
Source Documents:
- Johnson BA, M; Conway, J; Simmons, L; Edgman-Levitan, S; Sodomka,
P; Schlucter, J, Ford. Partnering with Patients and Families to Design a Patient-
and Family-Centered Health Care System. 2008; April:
http://www.ihi.org/NR/rdonlyres/C810CCBB-2DEB-4678-994A-57D9B703F98D/0/PartneringwithPatientsandFamiliesRecommendationsApr08.pdf.
- Brody DS. The patient's role in clinical decision-making. Ann
Intern Med. Nov 1980;93(5):718-722.
- Kizer K. Journey of Change II. In: Affairs DoV, ed. Washington,
DC: Veterans Health Administration; 1998.
- Street RL, Jr., Makoul G, Arora NK, Epstein RM. How does communication
heal? Pathways linking clinician-patient communication to health outcomes. Patient
Educ Couns. Mar 2009;74(3):295-301.
- Epstein RM, Franks P, Shields CG, et al. Patient-centered communication
and diagnostic testing. Ann Fam Med. Sep-Oct 2005;3(5):415-421.
- Schwartzberg JG, Cowett A, VanGeest J, Wolf MS. Communication
techniques for patients with low health literacy: a survey of physicians, nurses,
and pharmacists. Am J Health Behav. Sep-Oct 2007;31 Suppl 1:S96-104.
- Clark NM, Cabana MD, Nan B, et al. The clinician-patient partnership
paradigm: outcomes associated with physician communication behavior. Clin Pediatr
(Phila). Jan 2008;47(1):49-57.
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