Participatory Medicine: Your Patient Is Your Partner

According to the Society for Participatory Medicine, 90 percent of health care takes place outside the doctor’s office. Increasingly, these interactions take place virtually. Patients are not just Googling symptoms or printing articles; we’re sharing treatment information with each other in robust online patient communities. Many of us with chronic and rare diseases are using social media platforms and patient networks to participate in and encourage enrollment in clinical trials.

If partnership can bring together the expertise of medical professionals with the insights of patients, who know their own bodies and symptoms better than anyone else, then we will have the right framework for improved health outcomes.

When dealing with a serious health issue, 70 percent of adults in a Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project survey consulted health professionals. When it comes to the emotional aspects of living with disease, patients increasingly turn to each other for support and advice, too. If partnership can bring together the expertise of medical professionals with the insights of patients, who know their own bodies and symptoms better than anyone else, then we will have the right framework for improved health outcomes.