The Resourceful Patient: The 21st century paradigm February 14, 2007

The authors describe their book as something that a present day reader may perceive the views as radical but for those who will be 20 in 2021 as expecting the resources they describe to be routinely available and the culture of clinical practice to be one which starts from the assumption that the patient is in charge. This e-book gives you a lot of options on how you can read the book and refers the reader as “gentle reader”. How gentlemanly is that? Before you start reading this fascinating and great book with the concept of the patient being in charge, i warn you that the health care standard in Maldives is not even comparably near to what the writer describes as the present state of health care. Please find time and continue on this fascinating journey of the new paradigm to a better health care system in the 21st century. I hope you will Enjoy.

Whichever route you choose, Gentle Reader, we hope you find the ideas in the book of interest….

At present it is assumed that the doctor is the responsible person, and the patient incompetent and in need of care. As the book will argue, this assumption is wrong, and it creates an unsustainable prsesure on healthcare professionals. Even if only 10% of patients would like to share decision-making - and the evidence is that the proportion would be much higher in certain age and social groups - the basic premise should be that the patient is competent, not that the patient is incompetent. Even when groups of patients who might be thought to be incompetent are considered, it cannot be assumed that everyone is incompetent. Furthermore, even though only a minority of patients wish full control or shared decision-making, the majority of patients would like more information and involvement than they get at present.

This book is committed to promoting the concept of the resourceful patient, namely the patient who is not only aware of his rights but is also made aware of his responsibilities and is willing to accept them, provided, of course, that he is given the resources to do so.

The link to the e-book is here.