It’s Time to Engage
When afforded access to great healthcare, that’s when the real work begins. Your health goals and outcomes aren’t solely reliant on the doctor, but that responsibility also falls on you. Patient engagement is the first step towards the management of your health. According to the University of North Carolina (UNC) School of Medicine, increased patient engagement leads to better patient outcomes, a higher quality of care, and lowered health care costs. It also helps in developing prevention and chronic disease self-management programs that many new practices are modeled after. However, let’s further discuss the upsides of patient engagement.
Increased communication – Physicians and patients can communicate with one another more often and provide updates and timelines on a patient’s conditions
Increased patient satisfaction – With open dialogue channels between patient and doctor, patients become more confident regarding diagnoses and conditions since they are privy to more information.
Prevention – We utilize health-related information systems to help improve health outcomes and to identify trends of health and disease earlier.
Furthermore, there are challenges when it comes to patient engagement. However, our R-Health doctors make it easy by having your health as their top priority. Our doctors:
- Respect your individual needs
- Lead and manage your care
- Coordinate your care with other providers and facilities
- Provide care for short-term and long-term illnesses based on up-to-date standards of care
- Refer you to community resources that fit your needs
We have a few suggestions on how to stay engaged with your doctor:
- Partner with your doctor to develop a care plan (inform your doctor of any illnesses)
- Follow your care plan, and let your doctor know if you have difficulty with it
- Keep your appointments and contact your doctor if you can’t make it
- Check your patient portal for clinical summaries and instructions after each appointment
- If you have any question that needs answering, don’t wait, feel free to reach out to your doctor at any time
Despite aids from technology and the availability of your doctor, engagement isn’t effective if you don’t take the initiative to use these tools and seize more control of your health outcomes. With R-Health you have unlimited access to your doctor, so now it’s your turn to get engaged!
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