April 11, 2016 – Choosing Wisely

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Anchor lead: How will strategies to streamline medical care affect you? Elizabeth Tracey reports

Choosing Wisely is the name of an education and research effort underway around the country, taking aim at where medical tests or treatments can be safely eliminated, thereby improving safety and reducing costs.  Yet to some this may seem like care rationing.  Paul Rothman, dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, says informed patients will applaud this effort.

Rothman: I think the very well informed patient knows what the best practice is so it’s actually not the very well informed patient, it’s the patient that’s a little informed and may not have all the data.  The patient is our partner in their own care.  An informed patient is going to be a better patient.  So I think it’s our job to inform the patient about the studies and work with them so they understand it and be informed about the decisions that affect their care.  :28

Rothman says everyone has the right to question both medical treatments ordered and not ordered, and feels confident that efforts such as Choosing Wisely benefit all.  At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.