Bridges to Empowerment

That's Bridges as in John FP Bridges, CMPI Senior Fellow and Assistant Professor, Department of Health Policy & Management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

John has co-authored a very timely, important and intriguing new paper in The Expert Review of Pharmaceoeconomic and Outcomes Research, "Promoting patient empowerment in the healthcare system: highlighting the need for patient-centered drug policy."

Timely because it coincides with many Presidential candidates releasing their plans for revitalizing the American health care system.

Important because the paper seeks to define precisely what "empowerment" means and identify its constituent variables.

And intriguing because, well, it is.

Here's what Bridges, et al consider the "Antecedents to Empowerment" ...

* Knowledge
* Health Literacy
* Patient Initiative
* Access to Services and Drugs

And "Activities for Empowerment" ...

* Information Sharing
* Doctor-Patient Communication
* Choice
* Shared Decision Making

And, as a result, the "Outcomes of Empowerment" ...

* Health Status
* Patient Satisfaction
* Self-Efficacy
* Adherence

Here is a link to the complete article:

Download file

Viva Bridges!