How does the internet’s cacophony of opinions damage patient decision making, and how should a practice respond?
Patients no longer make health decisions in a quiet room with the doctor. They make them on the way home in the car, then again at the dinner table, then again on a forum at midnight, then again in a text exchange with a friend who once had a related procedure. Each round of input shifts the decision. Most of the input is uninformed, some is actively wrong, and the doctor’s reasoning is competing against all of it without being present. The practice’s response is to flood the post-consultation period with materials the patient can show to others. A written treatment plan in plain language. Videos or printed pieces that walk through the recommended approach. A clear answer to the questions the doctor knows family members will raise. The patient becomes a better advocate for their own treatment in the secondary conversations. The decision is less likely to drift apart between the consultation and the commitment.
If the answers you are finding here resonate with you, my team and I work with a small group of clients each year. The next step is a complimentary Discovery Consultation and Practice Review with Dr. McAnally.