Goal of making informed choices:

keep the control where it belongs...

in your hands.

Please click at the topics that interest you:

      Assume responsibility for making your choices.

      Look for sources of information that are credible and reliable.

      Ask questions about choices and options.

      Weigh the options; decide how the options or choices match your own goals and lifestyle.

     Do not feel pressured to accept or make a choice now.

     Remember that you have the option to change your mind with most health-related decisions.

Assume responsibility for making your choices.
 
  Even though it may be easier to allow your health care provider to make decisions for you about your health, you are the one whose life is directly affected.

Thus maintaining control requires you to be the major decision maker.

[Table of Contents | Top]

Look for sources of information that are credible and reliable.
 
   Look to many sources for your information such as your health care provider, reliable magazines, newsletters and publications. Seek guidance from good sources, but exercise your right to maintain the control.

 Decide if the provider of information has a vested interest in your choosing one option over another. If someone is encouraging you to make a choice that would benefit him or her, be wary.

[Table of Contents | Top]

Ask questions about choices and options.

  Do not be satisfied with pat answers. Use the same healthy skepticism that you would when buying a car or a new kitchen appliance. Do not blindly accept options or make choices.

  [Table of Contents | Top]

Weigh the options; decide how the options or choices match your own goals and lifestyle.

       Be realistic about what the options and treatments are likely to accomplish. Few health - related options are right for all people. Hope for the best but think about the possibility that there may be negative effects from your choice and consider this in your planning and decision-making.

If an option requires major changes in your life and you are unwilling or unable to make those changes, the option may not be right for you.

[Table of Contents | Top]

Do not feel pressured to accept or make a choice now.

    Very few health-related decisions need to be made immediately. Take time to obtain more information, think about the options, weigh pro’s and con’s, and then make a choice.

Share your thoughts with your family or significant others. Talk over your concerns with your health care provider.

[Table of Contents | Top]

Remember that you have the option to change your mind with most health-related decisions.

Few health-related decisions are fixed for all time.

[Table of Contents | Top]

08/01/03 01:40 PM