It’s not just our nation’s health care system that’s changing, but the patients who utilize this system as well. An especially interesting trend along these lines is what Dr. Margaret Chesney, head of U.C. San Francisco’s Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, describes as patient-driven health care. “Not just patient-centered,” she emphasized during a visit to her office last year, “but patient-driven.” We try to find out what our patients want and help them make an informed decision,” said Chesney. “Once they’ve decided what they want, our job is to provide the pieces that they need and that we feel comfortable with.”
here are times, however, when what patients need and they they’re looking for extends beyond any combination of therapies to a new way of seeing themselves, recognizing that, for instance, the search for the sacred in their lives can contribute significantly to their mental and physical heal according to a recent report at Communities Digital News.
