About the Book
This book demonstrates how a novel decision-aid, called a Benefit-Risk Characterization Theater (BRCT), can be used to:
- Significantly improve accurate communication of health risks from exposure to COVID-19; and
- Assess how to best contain and control COVID-19.
To date, there have been far-reaching ramifications based on ineffective risk communication when clarifying these health endpoints.
A BRCT is a familiar, theatrical chart representation of 1,000 people, with the risks and benefits shown by blackened seats. Since health outcomes can easily be put into such a chart, we show how BRCTs can be used objectively by professionals, the media and lay people. It allows characterization and communication of health benefits and risks of COVID-19 treatment and containment in an undemanding and straightforward way.
BRCTs have been successfully used to assist patients in determining:
- Their level of acceptable risk of various medical interventions;
- If the benefits of intervention outweigh the risks;
- Who should make the final decision regarding medical intervention; and
- Whether the decision is evidence-based.
Written by experts in the field, this book fills in a gap in communication between the medical community, the public and patients. It also provides an area of expertise in communication that is beneficial for medical providers and medical students.
About the Author:
Andy Lazris, MD is a practicing Internal Medicine physician with 25 years of experience. He is an honors history graduate from Brown University, having received his medical degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and Board Certified in Internal Medicine after completing his residency at University of Virginia Hospital. He currently is the medical director of several geriatric long-term care facilities, gives regular talks in the community about health and medical issues, and directs Personal Physician Care in Columbia. His publications include
Curing Medicare (Cornell University Press) and
Interpreting Health Benefits and Risks (Springer), as well as multiple peer-reviewed articles in the
AFP Journal. He is co-director of the primary care council of the Right Care Alliance
Erik Rifkin, PhD is an environmental scientist who has had over 40 years of experience in characterizing human health and ecological risks from exposure to contaminants in soil, aquatic ecosystems, air and sediments. He obtained a PhD from U Hawaii in Marine Zoology and went on to receive a Post Doc from NIH at the Naval Medical Research Institute. He has provided assistance and guidance to federal and state regulatory agencies, corporations, NGOs and the public in assessing risks associated with exposure to metals and organic pollutants in environmental media. In addition to publishing articles in peer-reviewed journals, Dr. Rifkin is coauthor of two books published by Springer,
The Illusion of Certainty: Health Benefits and Risks (2007) and
Interpreting Health Benefits and Risks (2014). His professional activities have underscored the importance of the communication of health risks and benefits to impacted groups.
Andy Lazris, MD, Personal Physician Care, Columbia, Maryland, USA
Erik Rifkin, PhD, Center for Interpreting Health Benefits and Risks, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
