Benefits of patientINFORM

Many times, items about new medical research findings appear in the news, but leave out important information that may be helpful to a patient or a loved one's condition. Many people may want to gain access to that medical information to learn more about the relevance of new research to their own medical needs.

Although the Internet is a powerful tool for finding information, using it can be very challenging if you don't know where to search…or who to trust. Non-profit patient health organizations like the American Cancer Society, American Diabetes Association, and American Heart Association are good sources, because their missions are to promote understanding and awareness of particular conditions or diseases and because they supply the most trusted and authoritative information available anywhere.

Many patient health organizations already provide comprehensive information based on the latest research, but through patientINFORM, they go further in that they provide online access to selected peer-reviewed medical journals as soon as they are published. With the support of medical and scholarly publishers, the voluntary health organizations are able to search the most current American, European, and international research articles available to aid them in identifying important advances on specific diseases and treatments. 

Not only does patientINFORM connect patients and their caregivers with the latest research, it helps them to put it into context. This means providing explanation and further information that will enable patients or caregivers to increase their understanding of the research and what it means for them. For example, if an article reports on the safety of a particular treatment in laboratory animals, the information provided by patientINFORM might explain what relevance, if any, the results might have for humans. In general, patientINFORM materials will explain the current state of knowledge about a particular medical problem, the significance of the new study addressing that problem, the strengths and limitations of the study, and the relevance, if any, it has for treatment and self-care.

By integrating the information into materials created for patients and linking to the full text of selected research articles on their websites, the voluntary health organizations will enhance patients' understanding and prepare them for more productive dialogues with their physicians.