The doctor, physiotherapist or district nurse who tells you what to do – that is outdated. Healthcare providers and patients should ‘decide together’ on treatment. A large number of healthcare organizations have started a campaign to stimulate this. This is necessary, because the practice is not that far yet.
It has been a trend in healthcare for some time now: making decisions together. The doctor will no longer tell you which treatment you will receive, but will tell you what options are available. For example, heavy treatment such as surgery is not always desirable. Sometimes an operation is life-prolonging, but you do sacrifice a lot of independence. And certainly if you are not that fit or have other ailments, surgery can do more harm than good. It just depends on what you want to do in the coming years, whether it’s a good idea. This major operation is just one example, because the campaign focuses not only on the treatments provided by the doctor, but also on those provided by other care providers, such as the physiotherapist, dietician or district nurse.
Practice is not that far yet
It sounds nice, but in practice it’s not that far yet. The Patient Federation Netherlands writes on its website that at least a quarter of all patients finds decision-making together difficult. Care providers also overestimate the extent to which they decide together and 7 out of 10 make a pre-selection of treatment options. Furthermore, 46 percent of health care providers say they make the decision together with the patient, but only 37 percent of patients feel this way. More than 1 in 5 patients indicate that they do not prepare for conversations with a healthcare provider. That while good preparation helps with Decision Making.
good questions
You can read how to do that on the website www.begineengoedspraak.nl. There is much more advice and tips there.
