Sometime while I was still in high school, my mom began to have trouble breathing. She had never had asthma before; an albuterol inhaler helped for a while. Still, cold season was a nightmare, and later, so was allergy season, and every year seemed to get worse.
After college, I moved back in with my parents. She fought her way through the cold season, dutifully driving 20 miles (and later 40, …
Fighting high health costs. Because I can.
Although the Affordable Care Act’s second enrollment period is nearly over, politicians, medical professionals, and the public still debate its implications. According to David Houle and Jonathan Fleece, one-third of all hospitals in the United States will close or be reorganized into another kind of health care provider by 2020. What will differentiate the winners from the losers? Simply put, it will be high patient satisfaction.
In consumer terms what …
Improve patient satisfaction from the eyes of the consumer
I wish lowering health care costs was as easy as “cost awareness,” but as one patient put it, “I never pay the first few bills, because the amount changes every time a new bill is sent.” The payment system is so fragmented that it’s hard to know what will become an expense with any given illness. Even the savviest of consumers of health care have difficulty with hospital payment systems. …
Lowering health care costs is more than cost awareness
A patient story tonight, from Jackie:
It was one of those days. I had been to the gynecologist the week prior because I somehow knew the sporadic bleeding, which I had experienced, was not a simple urinary tract infection for which I had been treated three times. My doctor did the scrapings and biopsies and had me run down the hall for an ultrasound. I’d had lots of ultrasounds during my pregnancies — …
When cancer comes to call you, rise up and fight the good fight
It’s tempting to blame it all on Henry Ford. I was standing alone at the empty counter, waiting to order in a fast food joint at 9 p.m. Off to my left, three or four carloads of customers had been served before anyone noticed me and came over to ask what I wanted. After all, Henry gave us the mass-produced (and therefor affordable) automobile. I wondered if the day …
Patient satisfaction surveys and accidental pickles
On my voice mail is a message from Donald Wyatt. He doesn’t often call, but every Monday morning he comes to see me at the Louisville, Kentucky, mental health clinic where I’m a social worker.
His message is brief: “I’m not feeling well, and I am planning a trip to either St. Louis or Elizabethtown.”
I smile, wondering at the odd pairing. Elizabethtown is a small city of 50,000 people. And, well, …
I’m happy: A social worker’s story
My family and close friends have done so much for me since I became chronically ill in 2001, and I’m deeply grateful to them. I’ve written this piece because there are a few important things I want them to know about how I feel.
Although this piece is personal in nature, I’ve been hanging out online for over a dozen years with other people who are chronically ill (which includes those …
What the chronically ill wish their loved ones knew
She is a time traveler. She spends an hour with each patient, takes note of each symptom, listens to each emotional concern, takes every call from every worried patient, handles all emergency situations, fills every prescription, handles each every insurance concern, breaks bad news gently, does her hospital rounds, yet is never late to see those in the waiting room.
She treats …
Perfect Patient™, Meet Perfect Physician™
Being sick isn’t easy, but neither is being the sibling of someone who’s sick.
We’ve shared many stories about children who are living with a serious illness. We’ve talked about their disease, what life is like for them, how they cope in such dire circumstances. But in all of these conversations, one thing we’ve overlooked is telling the stories of the brothers and sisters who sometimes feel that they live in …
Having a sibling with special needs: A challenge for the whole family
Dr. Peterson, the radiation oncologist, gets right to the point.
“The medical center’s tumor board has concluded that your cancer is inoperable, incurable and untreatable,” he says flatly. “Any chemotherapy or radiation treatments would be palliative in nature.”
He begins explaining the reasons behind the board’s verdict, but everything he’s saying washes out. My mind stopped working as soon as I heard the words “incurable” and “palliative.” I am sliding into shock.
Dr. …
When discussing cancer treatment, the approach matters
It started with a mild case of nausea and got progressively worse. I became dizzy and shaky, but tried to ignore it. There was work to be done that afternoon. We were moving boxes into storage at my in-laws’ house in Michigan, and I needed to be strong. I carried boxes on unsteady feet, catching myself before bumping into walls. By early evening my legs were wobbly, and I felt …
A costly anomaly on a brain MRI
This is an open love letter about my left leg.
I broke it at a roller derby scrimmage in Detroit on September 6. It was my third time representing the Glass City Rollers on the road and the beginning of a long ordeal that has given me plenty of opportunity to reflect on my body and my wellness goals.
Before this injury, my …
An open love letter to my broken leg
With roughly 1 billion in Medicare reimbursement dollars being tied to patient satisfaction, it’s no wonder the focus on patient experience is swelling. Of course there are other factors fueling the focus — the proliferation of online physician ratings websites, ACOs, and CG-CAHPS to name a few.
Over the past decade I have visited 100+ different inpatient and outpatient practices. Ironically, …
3 guaranteed ways to improve patient satisfaction
Jewish history has all too often been written in tears …
I am fascinated by people and groups with the capacity to recover,
Who, having suffered the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Are not defeated by them but fight back,
Strengthened and renewed.
– Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, PhD,To Heal a Fractured World
In some situations, the whole idea of complete recovery from bereavement makes no sense. Bereavement can be fully expected to last a lifetime. …
The Holocaust: Bereavement takes a different course
I have been a victim of diagnostic overshadowing by a primary care physician. I’ve been dealing with major depressive disorder, recurrent, severe and anorexia for twenty-five years — practically my entire adult life. However, I work full-time and I’m a published writer. At the time I saw this PCP, I was on hefty doses of Cymbalta (an antidepressant) and Abilify (an antipsychotic which can also be used to boost the effects of an …
A patient’s experience with diagnostic overshadowing
My illness has been as hard on my caregiver-husband as it’s been on me. I know how fortunate I am that he’s stuck around and that he never complains about the extra burdens he’s had to take on. My heart goes out to those of you who don’t have someone to care for you in this way.
This piece covers several ways …
Just yesterday I was searching for a local surgeon, and on one website he had 2 out of 5 stars. Hardly anyone was recommending him. Yet prominently featured on another site he had 4.7 out of 5 stars. Both sites had a good number of reviews. What’s going on? Is one site cherry picking the reviews? Is someone falsifying reviews on one of the sites? Which reviews can I trust? …
All online physician ratings are not created equal
Pain is one of the few things in life universally common to all races, all ages, virtually all people for the history of time. Though it is always with us, it is also the most difficult of human feelings to describe or even talk about. Doctors in an attempt to understand the degree to which we hurt invented a 1 to 10 pain scale.
I was very fortunate my first 47 …
The pain scale: Rating your pain needs context
As part of the admission process for a hospice patient, the admission team will ask the patient about their spiritual orientation and/or religion. Because there is so much information and education to convey at the admission, the discussion of a patient’s spiritually may only be minimally discussed. It is important for the hospice team to be aware of a patient’s spiritual orientation because it can affect their choices regarding treatment …
8 tips for spiritual assessment in the hospital
All health care professionals must be skilled at effectively communicating with patients who have dementia. Some professionals may erroneously assume that only those employed in long-term care, assisted living facility, and other similar places need these skills. However, patients with dementia visit medical practices, acute care hospitals and other health care centers. This article will provide a framework to effectively interact with patients who have dementia.
Go along to get along
This …
How to communicate with patients who have dementia
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