Patient engagement in a rapidly changing communication environment: reflections of a cancer survivor

The shared decision-making paradigm calls for patients to become as knowledgeable as they can about their illnesses and treatment options. To foster their engagement, patients today have unprecedented access to an array of health information and communication applications facilitated by the Internet revolution. In this commentary, the author, a long-term cancer survivor, reflects on his recent experiences with heart disease and discusses how he has benefited from advances in communication technologies in his quest to become an informed patient, at the same time reminding the reader about the ever-enduring salience of the patient-clinician relationship.