I read an interesting blog yesterday via CNN entitled “Will the doctor answer your email?”  The author pointed out something that we at Fibroid Relief already knew – Patients are using the Web in unprecedented ways for their own health empowerment.

Empowerment. That’s a word I like to hear.  If there is one thing we talk about a lot at Fibroid Relief, it’s about how important it is for you, the patient, to empower yourself with information in order to become an advocate for your own health.  My goal for you is to be able to walk into your gynecologist, family physician or internist’s office and be able to refer to all of the treatment options available for uterine fibroids (no quiz – I promise!) Think about how good it will feel to be able to have an informed two-way dialogue with your physician.

However, ON THE FLIP SIDE, the author opened my eyes and talked about the reality that the response to “e-patients” may not always be positive.  Physicians are increasingly under pressure, dealing with health insurance red tape, and squeezing more and more patients into their day.  They are quite simply overwhelmed. We should all be mindful of this when we do come to our appointment, armed with information and a long list of questions. As he stated, “our health system does not promote the communication necessary for physicians to engage e-patients.”

So what can we learn from this?  We can learn to respect that there are many constraints on our healthcare system that trickle down and affect our physician’s ability to communicate with us.  Perhaps this little bit of understanding will help us to develop even stronger relationship with our health care provider.  A healthy relationship will hopefully lead to a healthier you in the long run.