Aim and objectives:
Ask Me 3® is an educational program developed by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement that encourages patients and families to ask three specific questions of their providers to better understand their health conditions and what they need to do to stay healthy.
Target group:
Designed by health literacy experts, Ask Me 3® is a quick, effective tool designed to improve health communications between patients, families, and health providers and help patients become more active members of their health care team.
Method:
Ask Me 3® promotes three simple but essential questions that patients should ask their providers in every health care interaction and providers should always encourage their patients to understand the answers to:
- what is my main problem?
- what do I need to do?
- why is it important for me to do this?
Outcome:
Ask Me 3® is simple to use, inexpensive to implement and facilitates simple communication.
Added value:
Active participation empowers patients and makes the conversation easier for the health provider. Questions prompted by patients give health providers clues to the level of understanding, acceptance, and insight of the condition which in turn may guide the health professional to deliver timely and appropriate information.
