Patient

To my fellow school of medicine graduates: Give it to them straight

Patient
May 23, 2016

I would have graduated from medical school this year.  That’s right.  Just like you, I’d be getting ready to move to another city and take up residence at an academic medical center to begin my clinical training. Things don’t always work out the way we planned: like Lenny and George in Steinbeck’s, Of Mice and Men.  Sometimes, the best-laid plans have a way of going awry no matter how carefully we prepare them.

Cancer.  I wasn’t worried. It was …

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Are new, small NICUs convenient or risky?

Patient
April 26, 2016

Five months in the NICU made the daily 20-mile drive to see our son at Swedish Medical Center in Seattle quite tiresome. He was born prematurely at 22 weeks and 6 days of gestation, and we felt uprooted, wondering if we would ever get him home.  Then we met some Alaskans in the waiting room, who told us stories about being hustled on to air ambulances when pre-term labor was …

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There are far too many homophobic doctors and nurses

Patient
April 23, 2016

As a registered nurse and health care writer and editor for more than 25 years, I routinely wrote or assigned stories to other writers about the health of LGBT individuals.  I valued these stories not only because I was a nurse, but also because I thought the subject was worthy of coverage. I believed our nurse readers should be aware of the specific health needs of their LGBT patients.

I followed …

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You signed up to be a doctor, not a martyr

Patient
April 6, 2016

Dear doctor,

I need you to be healthy. When I come to you for help, I need your “A” game. I need you sleep enough. Eat healthy food. Not too much. Mostly vegetables. I need you to exercise regularly and take time to take care of your own physical, emotional and spiritual needs. I need to you use the bathroom when you need to. I need you to stop and take …

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Why doctors must learn from a patient’s perspective

Patient
March 23, 2016

On September 14, 2006, I was in the midst of a 218-consecutive-day hospitalization. What began as a scheduled C-section that April, resulted in a massive infection that nearly killed me. By Autumn, I was receiving physical therapy in the large hospital gym when I was raced back up to my room for my trach to be suctioned. This was not an uncommon occurrence. I was used to the process, and …

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A family caught in a vortex of questionable medical care

Patient
March 6, 2016

I am an ENT surgeon, a friend of the author, the patient, and their daughter, whose intervention saved his life. This is a smart, loving family caught in a terrible vortex of terrible medical care until they pulled themselves out, and a story that physicians must read, as we struggle to reinstate humanity and humility into our noble profession. Here is Paul’s tale, as told by his wife.

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On a mid-December …

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Medical mistakes happen. It’s what doesn’t follow that is unforgivable.

Patient
March 4, 2016

38 states currently have an apology act. This means that if doctors feel they owe a patient an apology, they may provide one without any ramifications, if future legal actions are taken by the patient/patient’s family.

In 2006, I spent 218 days in the hospital after the healthy birth of my daughter. My chronic autoimmune disease, scleroderma, masked certain signs of preeclampsia, which went undiagnosed. This led to a massive infection …

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A heart-wrenching story of pediatric cancer

Patient
February 18, 2016

Three years ago I spent the entire month of September by my daughter’s side in her hospital room. From Ana’s window, we watched summer fade into fall as we waited, day after day, for her to be discharged, which finally happened in early October.

During her forty days in the hospital, Ana was diagnosed with an obscure, slow-growing cancer called inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor. The tumor, roughly the size of a cantaloupe, …

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Strategies for coping with the side effects of medications

Patient
February 11, 2016

Many of us who suffer from chronic pain and illness are on medications that carry side effects that, in some cases, can be as difficult to cope with as our initial health problems. I’ve recently started a medication that I’m scheduled to be on for five years. I’m taking it because it significantly reduces the risk of a recurrence of my recent bout with breast cancer.

And so, yes, I’m taking …

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Doctors and patients: An inability to talk to one another as people

Patient
January 28, 2016

Dear medical professionals:

We need to talk. I know I walk into your office fearing the worst of you, and I suspect that you may have some hesitation about some of your patients. (Need I say, “frequent flyers?”)

We both have baggage. You have your patient horror stories. I — as a female patient with fibromyalgia and mental health issues — have mine.

My mom is a nurse, so I’ve grown up with …

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A hypocrite in a coffee shop

Patient
January 22, 2016

The woman in ill fitting snow pants and parka, as if there is such a thing as well-fitting snow pants and parka, clumps of blonde stuck-together hair poking out of her non-hipster cap, you know exactly what she looks like, stares at me from the sagging mid-century couch across the alcove in the café where I have set up my laptop, a scone, a huge cup of expensive coffee described …

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Googling is a sign of an engaged patient

Patient
December 14, 2015

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I can’t tell you how many people have flung this Facebook item at me since last night, starting with my wife. It’s already approaching 25,000 shares.

Listen, people: Googling does not mean I think I’m a doctor. It’s a sign of being an engaged, empowered “e-patient.”

I partner with great doctors — I don’t tell them what to do. And they welcome me doing it.

I personally am completely …

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Behind a handicap sticker is an untold story

Patient
December 11, 2015

I was attending a 50th birthday party for a friend of mine, when I struck up a conversation with someone I had never met. The conversation, of course, was with a woman who seemed genuinely interested in my quest to make air travel safer for those with food allergies. I told her how my family often receives dirty looks from other passengers when we pre-board a plane to wipe down …

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4 ways to handle unsolicited health advice

Patient
December 6, 2015

Here’s the most distressing piece of unsolicited advice I’ve received to date. It showed up in my Inbox two days after I’d completed a course of radiation for breast cancer. The email was in response to an article I’d written about this new, unexpected turn my life had taken; the article included the fact that, at the time, I was in the middle of a course of radiation treatment. Here’s …

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Ease the transition to hospice care in the family home

Patient
October 28, 2015

It is a pattern oft repeated in a lifetime:

You go to the doctor’s office, get a prescription, and go home.

You go to the urgent clinic, get care, and go home.

You go the hospital, get better, and go home.

But some people are very surprised when they go to inpatient hospice, are stabilized and told to go home.

Inpatient hospice could be within a hospital, nursing home, or a dedicated hospice facility. The …

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Choosing the right cardiologist takes longer than you think

Patient
October 25, 2015

After having an echocardiogram recently, I saw a cardiologist, which seemed the prudent thing to do.  I was not symptomatic, and I think the echo was pretty much unremarkable — to use a bit of doctor’s lingo.  I saw the word “mild” here and there in the report describing processes of my heart’s functions.  When you’re over seventy-three, “mild” sounds pretty all right.  Better than the word “acute,” I figure.  …

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Tips for patients to help ensure an accurate diagnosis

Patient
October 14, 2015

If you weren’t aware of the prevalence and severity of diagnostic errors, (misdiagnosis, missed diagnosis, delayed diagnosis) maybe you should be now.

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) released a new report called, Improving Diagnosis in Health Care. The report cited that most people will experience one or more diagnostic errors over their lifetimes. It also revealed that diagnostic errors contribute to 10 percent of patient deaths and account for up …

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Nurses save more lives than opera singers

Patient
October 8, 2015

Since 1921, the Miss America competition has ignited public debate. Typically though, the controversy doesn’t revolve around a contestant’s attempt to convey the positive influences nurses have on their patients. Contestant Kelley Johnson’s decision to perform a monologue for the talent portion of the Miss America program was a surprising departure from traditional acts generally showcased. Her recent appearance in scrubs and a ponytail prompted ridiculing banter between hosts on …

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