The Knowledgeable Patient: Communication and Participation in Health

Late in 2011, Wiley released The Knowledgeable Patient: Communication and Participation in Health as part of its Cochrane Book Series. The editor is Sophie Hill, who is the Head of the Centre for Health Communication and Participation at La Trobe University in Melbourne. She is also the Co-ordinating Editor of the Cochrane Consumers & Communication Review Group.

The main focus of The Knowledgeable Patient is on how to use evidence to improve communication and produce better healthcare outcomes. Chapters guide readers on how to find available evidence on strategies designed to improve people’s experiences in health care.

The Knowledgeable Patient places communication and participation in the context of evidence-based health care. “Communication in health is not taken seriously enough,” writes Dr Hill. “Statistics show poor communication between health professionals and patients or their families has led to adverse consequences for the patient and higher costs to the health system. . . . Research is telling us that communication is critical to health and to a person’s ability to manage their health.”

Dr Hill hopes that both healthcare practitioners and patients can benefit from reading the book and implementing its recommendations.

“Communication is the most common ‘intervention’ in the health system. But as a society we don’t usually see it this way. Evidence is building to show the different impacts. For example, passive ways of informing people about safe medicine use are not as effective as more active ways.

“Evidence like this should have an impact on health policy and health actions at all levels – from an individual taking preventive health actions, to health professionals and consumers making decisions together, up to people contributing to new policies.”

The Knowledgeable Patient is available for sale in print or electronic form via the Wiley website.