Dr.Shaivi Desai – Sourcing Information the Right Way

Dr. Shaivi Desai is a Physiotherapist from Seth G.S. Medical College and K.E.M. Hospital who is passionate about health care and health economics. She has written 3 papers and made presentations at the national level during her student life. She believes ‘Information therapy’ plays a key role in Patient management and is keen on forwarding the goal for betterment in the health care delivery sector.

The doctor-patient relationship puts the doctor in a position on power because of the gross information imbalance, but disseminating information works in bringing the patient to a level where he takes responsibility for his health himself. In today’s scenario the patient relies on his faith in the doctor (and God) and feels helpless because he is ignorant. This is a pity especially since there are a lot of sources available and accessible, but the patient is unaware and hence
does not make use of it. With the spread of computers it has become much easier to spread awareness and educate the patient. But while the internet is a boon for disseminating information, not all the material available online is reliable. One must learn to sieve the required information from the abundant sources available.