The phone conversation, as my dad, in the bed next door, recalls it, went something like this.
“Hello?”
“Hi, is this Jim? Where are you?”
“No, it’s not Jim. I’m John, and I’m in hospital.”
“Oh sorry, John, I was looking for Jim the refrigerator mechanic. Wrong number. Hope you’re okay!”
“I’m not okay. Just had both my knees replaced and I’m very sore.”
“John, I’m sorry. I got problems too. I run an ice cream …
The healing power of ice cream
Hospitals commonly espouse a commitment to patient-centered care (PCC). Most fail to achieve it. Causative factors are legion. PCC is often considered a strategy or a tactic, for example, when it really should be integral to an organization’s culture, and enabled by a supportive vision. Some organizations appreciate this, yet still struggle. This is understandable. Today’s health care providers were not trained to provide PCC. They lack the requisite skills, …
Is patient-centered care an outmoded concept?
Stephen Wolfram’s essay, The Personal Analytics of My Life, begins, “One day I’m sure everyone will routinely collect all sorts of data about themselves.”
A Pew Internet survey suggests we have a long way to go: a September 2010 survey found that 27% of internet users age 18+ track their own health data online. There may be more self-tracking happening offline — please post any measures of that phenomenon in the …
The gender divide when it comes to health tracking online
An excerpt from Born With a Junk Food Deficiency, (Prometheus Books, 2012).
Can anyone remember life before Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) advertising with its notorious “Ask Your Doctor” ads? The only thing laypeople knew about prescription drugs came from the ads they peeked at in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) in the doctor’s waiting room. The ads were full of vaguely ominous terms—nulligravida? hemodialysis?—as well as side …
Has direct to consumer advertising improved patient care?
An excerpt from The Take-Charge Patient: How You Can Get The Best Medical Care (Lemon Grove Press) which will be released May 15, 2012.
Here are a few suggestions that will help you make the most of your relationship with your doctor. They are for your benefit as a patient, because the more you know, the more empowered you will feel.
Remember That Doctors Are Human Beings
Almost every health care professional emphasized …
Tips to maximize the relationship with your doctor
Long relying on feedback from not only my patients but also family and friends, I try to continually improve upon how I provide care. A family member points out what they don’t like about a recent office visit and I make a mental note. A patient I referred to a specialist is less than thrilled about the way she was treated, again I make a mental note. Many of my …
Stop the Us versus Them mentality in medicine
Nothing is more delicious to the eyes of a five year old girl then the shimmering, metallic glare of a Zippo lighter. So when her Mom ran over to the neighbors to borrow some sugar, she climbed up the rickety kitchen cabinets and stood on her tip toes in order to reach the top shelf and pilfer the object of her desire.
After tripping clumsily back down, she sprinted to the …
You never know what’s behind that exam room door
Have you ever said, “I’m going to be perfectly honest with you” or something to that effect? Have you ever had someone tell you that they were going to be perfectly honest with you? Have you ever thought about what statements similar to these really mean? You should.
Trust is an earned commodity and hard to get back once lost. “Doc, I’m going to be perfectly honest with you” means that, …
When it comes to medical care, honesty is essential
If your computer has ever slowed way down you may have been advised to “defrag,” which puts all parts of a file together in the same place on the drive, enabling it to run faster and more efficiently. In much the same way, your health care needs to be defragged. For most people, health care is extremely fragmented, creating errors, delaying diagnoses and treatment and increasing costs.
Even for the very …
Your care is fragmented, here’s how to fix it
If you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it.
-Lord Kelvin
Asking science to explain life and vital matters is equivalent to asking a grammarian to explain poetry.
-Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Of course the quantified self movement with its self-tracking, body hacking, and data-driven life started in San Francisco when Gary Wolf started the Quantified Self blog in 2007. By 2012, there were regular meetings in 50 cities and a European and American conference. …
Is the quantified self movement the future of American health?
Recently I had the privilege of travelling to Vancouver, British Columbia to attend the inaugural BC Forum of the Canadian Coalition for Global Health Research. We had a wonderful host in the Department of Global Health of Simon Fraser University (and especially from Drs. Craig Jones & Vic Neufield). It was a challenging and pivotal conference for me.
That is not what I want to share now. The conference started with …
A few months ago, I came out with a post on why I love my own doctor. Today I want to celebrate my patients, both past and present. For me, without the experience I have had over the past 14 years, I would not have enjoyed medicine quite as much as I do.
What I like the most about medicine is the ability to interact with people. That’s what clinical medicine is all …
8 reasons why I love my patients
I recently worked a shift at one of the free, student run clinics here in Palo Alto. Compared to a previous shift a while back, today was quite calm with a manageable flow of patients. In fact, the number of volunteer hands far outnumbered the number of patients so I wondered if my services were even necessary.
Should I duck out early to go work on one of the four problem …
Each moment with a patient is a privilege
ADVERTISEMENT
An excerpt from The Take-Charge Patient: How You Can Get The Best Medical Care (Lemon Grove Press) which will be released May 15, 2012.
Your Relationship with Your Doctor
“A good relationship with your physician can lead to better medical care.”
-Zouhdi A. Hajjaj, MD, internal Medicine, Yarmouthport, MA
Your relationship with your doctor is an important one that can last for many years. It is a partnership. You and your doctor collaborate to maintain your …
Communicate and strengthen your relationship with your doctor
I had a patient once. Her name was Alice (not her real name). Alice was in her mid-thirties, diabetic, had chronic pain, high blood pressure and was an alcoholic. She lived on Kuper Island which was just a short ferry ride from the small pharmacy I managed in Chemainus, British Columbia. Alice would come in every month or so to see me for her medication, go over her blood sugar results, take her blood pressure. …
When patients are my greatest teachers
“It is getting worse everyday.” “Medicare fix at the last moment.” “Too much paperwork not enough time with patients.” “ACO’s and bundling.” The headlines scream at us everyday.
If we have one word that underlies the medical community it is fear.
The looming uncertainties of reimbursement, insurance changes, electronic medical records and new regulations form the main topic of doctor worry talk. The country’s health system remains in perpetual flux and catching …
Doctors need to find meaning in their work
I recently came across two articles in the press concerning doctor-patient relationships and communication. I began to reflect on what makes communication between doctor and patient most successful and many questions surfaced.
In the New York Times, a new study published in Annals of Internal Medicine was referenced. In this study, the way in which doctors communicate non-verbally was examined. Non-verbal communication was often discordant to the message being relayed, particularly …
Honesty is the basis of communicating with patients
Patients are more empowered with their medical decisions, more than ever. With the Internet, they are able to research their conditions and can sometimes diagnose their conditions and treatment without having to step in the office. “Dr. Mom” can find useful information on treating their infant’s cold at 2 am.
However, when there are serious chronic conditions, patients want an expert. Patients can get information on the disease – the government, …
Technology will democratize medicine
Unlike most other industries, safety in healthcare has a unique set of circumstances to overcome: 1) patients die from errors one-at-a-time, and 2) we rarely find out exactly why. The “sensationalism” from a front-page disaster is completely absent. And, due to a myriad of factors, the underlying hazards usually remain a secret.
As we ride the crest of a current wave of interest in “patient safety,” is the refreshing new focus blinding …
The necessary steps healthcare must take for patient safety
Do you, or people you care about, have a chronic medical condition? There are all kinds of chronic diseases, but the ones that are most aggressively killing us—and the health care system—are heart disease, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome (a deadly combination of excess weight, high blood pressure, increased cholesterol and elevated blood sugar). These are all primarily lifestyle diseases and cancer should probably be on the list, too.
I felt sad …
Don’t give up on your patients, some will absolutely amaze you
Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.
