Patient

The Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation improves patient safety

Patient

July 18, 2011

A guest column by the American Society of Anesthesiologists, exclusive to KevinMD.com.

The Anesthesia Patient Safety Foundation (APSF) is celebrating its 25th anniversary. APSF is a patient advocate organization whose mission is to improve the safety of patients during anesthesia care by encouraging and conducting: safety research and education; patient safety programs and campaigns; and the …

It’s not an advocate’s job to save a patient’s life

Trisha Torrey

Patient

July 16, 2011

Sooner or later, it happens to every patient advocate or navigator who works with patients on the medical aspects of their care (as opposed to other forms of advocacy, like billing or legal advocates).

One of “our” patients — someone whose hand we have held, who we have protected from problems in the hospital, who depended on our advocacy expertise as a way to make the …

Let go of guilt while trying to get your baby to sleep

Melissa Arca, MD

Patient

July 12, 2011

Getting your infant, toddler, or even preschooler to sleep through the night is tricky at best.

If you are one of the lucky ones, you may have an “easy” sleeper. You know, the one that seems content after some rocking, singing, and nursing. Things just flow and voila, you actually have a baby that, “sleeps like a baby” so to speak.

However, for many of us, “sleep like a baby” is …

Our health system defaults toward treatment rather than compassion

Kevin

Patient

July 7, 2011

by Sara Billings, RN

I believe knowledge is power. There is no more complex topic in the healthcare debate than end-of-life care. I have been a Registered Nurse for thirty years. I deal with this every day. All of us will confront this issue eventually. When it’s your turn, I hope the medical profession will guide you to the best options for you and your family.

Often I see patients who have …

Patients who bill their doctor for being late

Pamela Wible, MD

Patient

July 6, 2011

shutterstock_207940108

Meet Elaine.

We lost touch for a while, but caught up with each other recently.

Like most girlfriends, we shared adventures of love, travel, and work. I told Elaine that I left assembly-line medicine. Now I host town hall meetings-inspiring citizens nationwide to design ideal clinics and hospitals.

Elaine shared: “If I’m kept waiting, I bill the doctor. At the twenty-minute mark, I politely tell …

When the parent becomes child and child becomes parent

Stewart Segal, MD

Patient

July 6, 2011

I bet you didn’t know that the war for independence is being fought on a daily basis throughout our glorious country. From the time we are born until the time we die, each of us strives to assert our independence. Once the toddler learns to run, he insists on running wherever he wants to. As he ages, we foster his need to be independent and teach him …

Use the National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Information Service

Erin Marcus, MD

Patient

July 5, 2011

Brenda Bryant learned she had breast cancer while she was sitting alone in her car in the parking lot of her grandson’s day care center. It was early evening on a Friday two years ago, and her surgeon called to tell her the results of a biopsy. “He just gave me my results and that was it,” says Bryant, who lives in Northern Virginia. “It was like there was …

Measuring physician trust in patients

Jessie Gruman, PhD

Patient

July 1, 2011

Members of the American public are frequently surveyed about their trust in various professionals. Doctors and nurses usually wind up near the top of the list, especially when compared to lawyers, hairdressers and politicians. Trust in professionals is important to us: they possess expertise we lack but need, to solve problems ranging from the serious (illness) to the relatively trivial (appearance).

How much professionals trust us seems irrelevant: our reciprocity is …

Read more…

Measuring physician trust in patients

Using gender as sole determinant for a choice of doctor

Colleen Kelly Mellor

Patient

June 29, 2011

It happened 25 years ago and I never forgot it. I’d been in the forefront of women’s consciousness-raising; I recognized that women had been professionally downtrodden for years (in certain fields), and hoping to do my part to balance the inequity, I opted for female doctors whenever possible.

But using gender as sole determinant for my choice of doctor would prove to be a huge mistake … as I’d learn.

At …

Patients are often intimidated and confused by the medical experience

Dr. Peripatetic, MD

Patient

June 29, 2011

As a recently minted physician, I am often on the receiving end of the gripes and grouses about the medical profession.

Often I get complaints of office visits that are too short, doctors who seem too preoccupied to hear their patients’ complaints, medical bills that are too high and medications that do nothing but cause adverse effects. On the other hand, I can’t count the number of times I have …

Avoiding confrontations and the difficulty of standing up for yourself

Susan Biali Haas, MD

Patient

June 28, 2011

When I was 8, my mom went to a parent-teacher night at school. When she sat down with my teacher, the teacher smiled and said: “So how are Susan’s swimming lessons going?”

My mom frowned, confused. “Susan isn’t taking swimming lessons – perhaps you’ve confused her with someone else?”

“No, I’m sure,” my teacher insisted. “Susan told me that she has to leave at 3 o’clock every afternoon, right when the bell …

How positive thinking affects patients with serious illnesses

Dr. Martin Young

Patient

June 28, 2011

I was sick the other day. A bout of gastroenteritis that had me vomiting with diarrhea for 24 hours and feeling weak for another 48. I felt rough for a while, but got over it pretty quickly. My family gave me just the right amount of care, and avoided me appropriately because I get grumpy when I am sick.

Had they dared approach me with the suggestion that my state of …

Closing the communication gap between patients and physicians

Howard Luks, MD

Patient

June 27, 2011

I lived in Japan in 1991. When I was having a conversation with someone, they would always nod their head as if they completely understood the message I was trying to convey.

It turns out that was not the case. The nodding was a sign of respect. When I began to inquire if they understood what I was trying to say — it became clear that the answer was usually no.

Many …

Using video games to fight childhood obesity

Ricky Choi, MD

Patient

June 22, 2011

“I don’t study because it gets in the way of my video game time”

-15 year old patient.

Sorry mom and dad, video games are here to stay. In my clinic, this is a topic of discussion every day:

“How many hours of screen time does Mikey get every day?” I ask.
“Tell the truth”, Mom says looking at Mikey.
“brmfbr mbbrm,” says Mikey looking away.
Mother turns to me with the familiar look that …

Read more…

Using video games to fight childhood obesity

Make the most of the time spent with a doctor to minimize patient frustration

Melanie Lane, MD

Patient

June 22, 2011

A lot of people express frustration when visiting their doctor’s office. They don’t feel they are listened to, cared about, or have their issues adequately addressed. If this sounds familiar, it could be that your doctor is evil, or what’s more likely, he’s trying to practice medicine within a difficult system.

Due to decreasing reimbursement and increasing expenses, many doctors are forced to see more patients just to keep their …

When TV news departments partner with local medical centers

Gary Schwitzer

Patient

June 21, 2011

It’s not a new phenomenon. In fact, it’s troubling how old and widespread it is.

But when TV news departments partner with, and sell news time to local medical centers, you can take the Radio-Television Digital News Association’s code of ethics and throw it out the window.

Blythe Bernhard reports in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “In St. Louis, the latest media/hospital partnership is a campaign from Barnes-Jewish Hospital and local …

Evidence versus experience based medicine for patients

Kevin

Patient

June 20, 2011

by Dennis Grace

The Internet’s been rife, lately, with discussions of evidence-based medicine (EBM) and its alternative, experience-based medicine (which, to avoid conclusion, I’ll call XBM).

Look up either phrase on Google if you want more details, but be warned, it’s like trying to get a sip from Niagara Falls. Ideally, though, EBM is guided by information generated by studies conducted as rigorous, double-blind, randomized, …

The best diagnostic medical device is right in your own home

George Lundberg, MD

Patient

June 20, 2011

What is the year 2011’s best diagnostic and therapeutic medical device?

Is it the PET scan with special bells and whistles to detect early Alzheimer’s?

Is it the robotic surgery that reams out the worst prostate cancers remotely?

Is it the Total Genomic Analysis that predicts what your genetic future holds?

Is it the GI endoscope that checks out your innards from stem to stern?

Is it the latest drug-eluting stent that promises to …

Let’s stop the war between breastfeeding and formula feeding

Yolanda Wong, MD

Patient

June 17, 2011

I am all for breastfeeding. Without doubt, breast milk is incredible stuff. And it’s free. Who complains about free?

Nevertheless, somewhere along the way, the campaign for breastfeeding has spun out of control. The topic has morphed into yet another competition in the arena of parenthood. Mothers boast about breastfeeding. Mothers compare how long they nurse. Mothers compare how much milk can be pumped in one sitting. Mothers are made …

Narrative medicine means more effective healthcare

Jennifer Adaeze Anyaegbunam and Jennifer Sotsky

Patient

June 16, 2011

As undergraduate premedical students, we learned about narrative medicine by chance in a New York Times article titled “Learning to Listen.”

After exploring the research of Dr. Rita Charon, we were both drawn to the new field and what it had to offer us as future medical professionals. The Times article explains, “Through literature, [Dr. Charon] learned how stories are built and told, and translated that …

Patient

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