A website to help patients get better healthcare by talking to their doctors about their lives and goals.
“Healing Tools” summaries are a collection of evidence-based resources to help providers and patients use integrative health approaches to improve health and wellbeing.
This tool is for: Patients and their family members
This tool was created by: Knowledge and Evaluation Research Unit at Mayo Clinic and the Warburton Family
SUMMARY
What is this tool for?
Patients get the best healthcare when their doctors know about their lives and goals. But having these conversations isn’t easy. Often, patients are afraid of saying the wrong thing, being judged, appearing stupid or being a burden.
Helping patients build skills and confidence
The Patient Revolution helps patients build skills and confidence to tell their stories to their doctors. These stories help doctors understand their patients’:
- Lives, including capabilities and limitations
- Feelings about risks, benefits and trade-offs of care options.
These stories are the first step in moving toward healthcare that’s careful and kind to each patient and each community.
Tools for talking to doctors
Free tools from The Patient Revolution include:
- Plan Your Conversation Cards to help patients think about what to say to their doctors.
- Reflection Tool with 4 questions to answer before a doctor’s visit.
- Barrier Cards to help patients learn why they didn’t speak up during a recent medical visit.
- Let’s Talk About Cost Cards and Brochures to help patients compare the cost of medications for depression or diabetes and talk about this with their doctors.
Why We Revolt, by Victor Montori, MD, MSc, explains The Patient Revolution. The book:
- Describes what’s wrong with industrial healthcare and how it has stopped caring
- Proposes a revolution of compassion and solidarity, unhurried conversations and careful and kind care.
All proceeds from the book support the mission of The Patient Revolution.
How does this contribute to an integrative health approach?
Integrative health involves combining conventional medicine, self-care, and complementary and alternative medicine to help achieve optimal healing, health and wellbeing. When you tell your story to your doctor, you are participating in your care. Patients and doctors then work together to decide what will work best for your health, goals and situation. This approach can be used in conjunction with a Healing Oriented Practices and Environments (HOPE) Visit for integrative health as described in the book How Healing Happens – see www.howhealinghappens.org.
What does the evidence say about this tool?
There is currently no specific evidence available about this tool. But Dr. Montori and his team within Mayo Clinic’s Knowledge and Evaluation Research Unit study the challenges patients face in getting the best healthcare. They have developed a deep understanding of the issues keeping patients from speaking up when they see their doctors. The team includes experts in clinical practice, clinical research, design, health policy and storytelling. It has been reviewed and used by patients.
Who created this tool?
The Patient Revolution is a collaboration between the Knowledge and Evaluation Research Unit at Mayo Clinic and the Warburton Family. Victor Montori, MD, MSc, directs the Knowledge and Evaluation Research Unit, which advances evidence-based patient-centered care for people living with chronic conditions through research. Dr. Montori is a professor of medicine, a highly cited researcher, and a diabetes doctor at Mayo Clinic. The Warburton Family focuses on developing interventions for patient-centered care.
For more information, check out Why We Revolt available for $12.99 in paperback, $4.99 for Kindle version.
ABOUT THESE INTEGRATIVE HEALTH TOOLS
At Healing Works Foundation, we believe that achieving optimal health and wellbeing requires an integrative health approach—one that combines and coordinates conventional medicine, self-care, and complementary and alternative medicine.
Translating Evidence into Action
The goal of these summaries is to help providers and patients learn about and access evidence-based integrative health tools.
Disclosures:
Healing Works Foundation is a nonprofit organization and does not profit from any of the tools featured in these summaries.
Patients: Contact your provider before starting any new health program. Show him/her these resources.