Part II

Patient Advocacy: ValueCentered™ Communication is the Cornerstone to a Positive Relationship Between You and Your Healthcare Team

By Sharon Shedroff and Shauna Hatton-Ward

Trusting Yourself; the Foundation for Security

In the previous article on patient advocacy, we introduced the idea that you, the patient, are the center and driving force of your health care team.  You are the expert about yourself.  No one, not even your primary doctor, has as much knowledge about your experience as you do.  In this article we want to introduce the notion that your ability to communicate about your experience to your healthcare team is key to receiving the kind of healthcare you want.

How does one effectively communicate with professionals who are highly educated and trained, short on time, and perhaps a bit intimidating? 

The first step in this process is to pay attention to your experience so that you are able to describe your experience to yourself.   As you begin to observe and describe changes in your health, the things that are problems, and the things that just don’t seem to be right to, you are laying the foundation for being able to clearly communicate with your healthcare team. 

As you practice observing and describing what you notice about yourself, you are establishing the ability to trust your observations.  Developing this sense of trust will help you feel secure in that you are, indeed, accurately and skillfully communicating about yourself.

Having a secure foundation lays the ground for your healthcare team to listen to and respect your views.  If you trust your intuitions and observations so will they.   

Being In Control of the Relationship

Once you are secure with your observations, you can begin to master the ability to educate your healthcare team about you – the second step.  Educating your healthcare team begins the process of establishing consensus.  Consensus means you agree with your healthcare team.  They have not taken healthcare decisions away from you, but rather have given you the opportunity to participate in the plans for your treatment and future health.

The goal of a positive relationship between patient and healthcare provider is to establish consensus among all members of the team.  This means that you must agree with the conclusions, treatment plans, etc. that your healthcare team comes to and there must be agreement among the professionals.

Getting Respect from Your Healthcare Team

Being able to communicate in clear and descriptive terms gives you credibility and empowers you to gain positive regard from your healthcare providers. The following are those things that you want to initially share with your healthcare team:

Past history: 

Providing information about your past health gives your healthcare team an opportunity to chronicle your problem. 

Present concerns:

Describing the issues at hand gives your healthcare team a perspective on what is currently going on in relationship to your health issues.  Make a list.           

Expectations for the future:

Clearly describing what your expectations are for your future health and describing to your healthcare team what an optimal outcome is for you opens the door to asking whether your expectations are realistic or not.  

When all team members are clear about what the past and current health issues are, what the expectations for the future are and what is realistic in relationship to your health issues and concerns, it is more likely that a positive and productive interaction and outcome will occur between you and your team.

ValueCentered™ Communication: A Summary

§         Security
Become secure in your concerns and needs.  Trust your intuition. Talk to yourself.  Make lists about your history, concerns, complaints, and expectations.

§         Freedom
Be sure to quietly remain in control.  You are looking for consensus.  That means you agree too.  Be empowered.

§         Self Esteem
Respect must go both ways.  If you trust yourself and act confidently, you will feel good about yourself and the decisions that are made.  The team will respect you too.

§         Harmony
We have discussed consensus throughout the Team (including you).  Keep that in perspective.  You are looking for a reasonable, understandable plan. You can get it!