Information for patients about health services: a review and future developments in the Nordic countries

Patient power, consumerism and the information revolution are leading to more pressure on care givers to provide information to patients. There are many types of information about health services, treatments and health conditions which could be made available, and different ways of giving it to patients and of helping them to use the information. This paper considers the information which would help citizens to choose a provider, as well as the information which patients could use to take a greater part in treatment decisions and to manage their care, and discusses how it could be collected and provided to people. It reviews some of the research into what information people want, how they use it, the different systems which exist, and the problems and issues involved in helping patients to make more informed choices. Although the review is selective, some general themes emerge and suggest that nurses need to experiment with different approaches and to be at the forefront of developments in enabling patients to make use of the new information which is available.