[Empowerment of the patient does not undermine but rather supports the expert ]

Patient empowerment is reshaping the provision of healthcare services more than previously towards the desires of users. With empowerment the patients have again the right to make decisions in matters associated with their disease and in their own life. Good-quality, comprehensible information is one of the most important empowering factors for patients, because it helps patients to participate in their treatment and to make well-grounded decisions as well as to take a more analytical stand towards healthcare services. Poorly managed empowerment may increase costs, promote medicalization and weaken the dominance of professionals within healthcare.