The Resourceful Patient

Muir Gray JA. The Resourceful Patient .Oxford: eRosetta Press, 2002 Economic, social and technological shifts have changed medical care, affecting relationships between patients and health professionals. Patients and clinicians are using new strategies and sources for acquiring health information, including the Internet. Patients may be equipped with information from Internet web searches and online support groups when they arrive at a psychologist or psychiatrist‘s office door. The Resourceful Patient is useful for understanding this trend. As people attempt to take control of aspects of their lives, the alleged `experts‘ are being questioned on many fronts. This book addresses resulting developments in the medical realm. It has four sections: 1) the rise and fall of the medical empire; 2) what doctors do all day; 3) resources that patients require to share responsibility and assume more control, and 4) the shape of 21st century healthcare for patients, clinicians and organisations. The first part of The Resourceful Patient outlines the development of the medical establishment in Western nations and provides practical know-how for navigating medical sites. …