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Guest post by SPM member Gangadhar Sulkunte. We posted his family’s e-patient story two years ago.

FDA risk communication cover - click to open PDF (3 MB)The FDA’s Risk Communication Advisory Committee has published a PDF book called  “Communicating Risks and Benefits: An Evidence-Based User’s Guide.” It’s meant to help healthcare practitioners and researchers communicate their work with patients, care givers and the public at large. It’s a free download here (3MB) on the FDA’s website.

The 242-page book covers topics like goals of risk communication, evaluation, language to be used in the communication etc. Every chapter covers a summary of a chosen topic, drawn from multiple research papers on the topic, and includes additional resources for further research.

Some topics of interest to e-patients:

  • The chapter about the language to be used in patient communications, written by Musa Mayer, the well-known breast cancer survivor and patient advocate.
  • Chapter 17 is about Shared Decision Making, which we talk about a lot on this blog and on the SPM members listserv.
  • Chapter 18 on health care news coverage is by Gary Schwitzer of Health News Review. He talks about how medical journalists tend to exaggerate the benefits and minimize potential harms.

This is a must read for all doctors and medical researchers. Please share with your friends and colleagues.

 

 

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