Be involved in your own health care

What you need to know

We want you to be involved in your own health care.

We want all of our patients, consumers, families and carers to be involved in shared decision making and to be able to communicate with staff.

The patient / consumer centred care approach is a focus of SA Health, which aims to deliver the best safe, and high-quality care.

Key principles to patient/consumer centred care

The key principles of patient/consumer centred care approaches include:

  • treating patients, consumers, carers and families with dignity and respect
  • encouraging and supporting participation in decision making by patients, consumers, carers and families
  • communicating and sharing information with patients, consumers, carers and families
  • fostering collaboration with patients, consumers, carers, families and health professionals in program and policy development, and in health service design delivery and evaluation.

Eight patient and consumer centred care principles

Consumer information on Respecting your privacy and dignity with patient centred care principles outlines eight patient and consumer centred care principles:

  1. respect for your values, preferences and expressed needs
  2. coordination and integration of care
  3. information, communication and education
  4. physical comfort
  5. emotional support and alleviation of fear and anxiety
  6. involvement of family and/or carers
  7. continuity and transition
  8. access to care.

Consumer information

Consumer information and resources have been developed to assist you to be involved in your own health care. These include:

Communicating with health care professionals

A number of tools have been developed for consumers and carers to be informed and to help to communicate with the health care team, and are listed below:

The Make the most of your time with your doctor tool helps you to prepare for a visit to the doctor. The tool enables you to build a list of questions you would like to ask your doctor, and consider questions the doctor might ask.

The questions can be printed or emailed to a phone/device for during the appointment.

The question builder (tool) is designed to be used with general practitioners and specialists. It encourages people to ask questions that matter most to them, participate in the appointment and share decisions with the doctor about your own care.

The Top tips for safe Health Care (PDF 548KB) is designed to help consumers, their families, carers and other support people get the most of their health care.

You can use the information in the booklet to talk to your doctor and other healthcare providers, including nurses, pharmacists, specialists, allied health and mental health workers.