1. Health on the net, not only physicians. A tool for patient empowerment
Prof. Giuseppe Nappi

2. WHAT’S EMPOWERMENT (EMP)?
EMP is all about the acquisition of new abilities and functions.
In the healthcare setting, EMP refers to the enhanced ability of “empowered patients”
to understand and manage their own disease.

3. The EMP concept has recently undergone a considerable evolution
First introduced in the early 1970s, on the wave of the 1968 drive for equality and emancipation, it remained for a long time a utopian ideal of redistribution of power and knowledge.
In recent years, EMP has actually become the philosophy underlying planned healthcare reforms in the Western world.
(WHO, EU strategy, ).

4. The popularity of EMP is due to at least 3 socio-cultural factors:
The failure of the “technophilic model” of modern medicine, which has led to patient dissatisfaction.
The concept, driven by today’s consumer-oriented society, of the “patient as a consumer”.
The adfirmation of the information society and the growth of INTERNET.

5. Humanity vs technology
Censis-fbm A survey in EU countries

6. The quality of the consultation
Yankelowicz Monitor
2001-USA

7. Censis-fbm 2007. A survey in EU countries
Headaches are an example of the failure of the technophilic model of medicine
The tendency to ignore the Whole (PERSON) in favour of the Part (HEAD) generates, in headache patients, frustration and a desire to contribute to the management of their own health
What patients need is empathy and careful attention to their disease experience, access to care and trained physicians.
What they get is a well-marketed painkiller or a hurried consultation with a physician who, failing to make an accurate diagnosis, treats only the symptom.
Censis-fbm A survey in EU countries

8. The growth of the Information Society and Internet has made it possible to offer knowledge, education, support, and better communication between all those interested in health, all in a convenient, anonymous, multimedia and interactive manner.
Searching for health information online is the second most common internet activity in Western countries
Internet is the first source of information
about health, more than doctors

9. The online revolution of healthcare systems
Pew Internet 2009

10. The experience of COMOESTAS marks an important turning point
Through an alliance of technology and humanity, physicians and patients can improve health