title: Patient engagement in a rapidly changing communication environment: reflections of a cancer survivor.
abstract: The shared decision-making paradigm calls for patients to become as knowledgeable as they can about their illnesses and treatment options. To foster their engagement, patients today have unprecedented access to an array of health information and communication applications facilitated by the Internet revolution. In this commentary, the author, a long-term cancer survivor, reflects on his recent experiences with heart disease and discusses how he has benefited from advances in communication technologies in his quest to become an informed patient, at the same time reminding the reader about the ever-enduring salience of the patient-clinician relationship.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, 9609 Medical Center Drive, Bethesda, MD 20892-9762. aroran@mail.nih.gov.
authors.forename: Neeraj K
authors.initials: NK
authors.lastname: Arora
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003657:Decision Making; D058015:Health Communication; D063005:Health Information Systems; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000139:chemically induced; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008228:Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin / Q000188:drug therapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010358:Patient Participation; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D017741:Survivors
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents