Shared Decision-Making Archives

“It Can Save Your Life”: How You Can Play an Active Role in Your Cancer Care – A Book Excerpt

by John Novack | Dec 6, 2022

Editor’s note: In his new book, Open Heart, Warrior Spirit: A Man’s Guide to Living With Cancer, patient activist Trevor Maxwell explains why men go into their “man caves” when facing a cancer diagnosis; provides tips for avoiding that dangerous isolation;...

Building Us Up, Not Tearing Us Down

by Eric Bersh | Sep 27, 2022

“Lack of effort and persistence” Those words cut like a knife, leaving a deeper wound than any facet of illness my daughter has faced. A provider used those words to describe my 19-year-old daughter Sara, who has lived her entire life with chronic complex medical...

Dr. Danny Sands: Participatory Medicine Can Cure Many Ills

by John Novack | Sep 12, 2022

Embracing shared decision making in medicine will improve patient outcomes, reduce costs, increase health equity, and even help alleviate clinician burnout, Danny Sands, MD, co-founder of the Society for Participatory Medicine, said in a recent podcast interview. Erin...

The Keys to Good Relationships With Your Care Teams

by Eric Bersh | Aug 23, 2022

Being born with cystic fibrosis, a progressive, genetic lung disease, I have had countless health encounters throughout my life. Through these experiences I have learned the power that lies in self advocating for my health in the clinic setting with my doctors and...

Participatory Medicine is Where You Find It

by Eric Bersh | Aug 17, 2022

Collaborations across healthcare can save lives – especially when working with patient advocates. For a person like me, who is impacted by a rare, neurological, and incurable disease, it’s my mission to ensure that patients’ perspectives are represented early...

Trusting Yourself, Trusting Your Care Team: Conscious Partnerships and the Gift of Life

by Eric Bersh | Mar 16, 2022

My husband was on a tele-call as I walked past in the background quiet, as if a mouse. He got off his call and asked “So?” I exclaimed “It’s positive!” He could hardly believe it, I acted so calm. I had already intuitively had a sense—I was pregnant. We were ecstatic,...