It’s a simple question, but it has stirred some controversy. It’s the word “friendly.” Colleague and fellow passionate advocate Bart Windrum got (as my mother would say) his blood in a bubble after reading an article about engaging a patient advocate to help you navigate your healthcare, recently published in a Tampa newspaper. In a […]
Advocating – What’s “Friendly” Got to Do With It? Read More »
It’s been awhile since I posted — but you’ll understand why. My father suffered a mild heart attack a few days ago, and (thanks for asking) is doing as well as can be expected. In his 80+ years, he has never had any indication he had a problem with his heart! A variety of other
Hospital Gets a Plus, Communication a Minus Read More »
A friend and colleague, Franny, shared her story with me and caused my jaw to drop. Then, I realized it didn’t really surprise me at all. Having suffered months and months of treatment for his brain cancer, Asa’s life was almost lost due to the arrogance of the resident who was in charge of his
A Doctor’s God Complex, a Life Nearly Lost Read More »
I exchange thoughts with healthcare IT people on a daily basis over at Twitter. So many of them seem perplexed at why we patients look at putting our medical records on the internet with trepidation. Then along comes this video from Elizabeth Cohen at CNN. In a matter of minutes, she was able to pull
Snooping – Medical Records Access Made Easy Read More »
(The following is reprinted with permission from John James, PhD, a patient safety advocate who came to his work after the loss of his son, Alex, to medical errors. Dr. James publishes a monthly patient safety newsletter, and has written a book focused on what he learned about the dysfunction of America’s for-profit healthcare system.
Healthcare Journalism and Truth Read More »
I’ve written many times before about electronic medical records, personal health records and privacy. They can’t effectively be used in the same sentence unless you bring up oil and water, too. They just don’t mix. An incident right here in my office spawned this post. Twice in the past week, a stranger’s medical records have
Electronic Medical Records and Privacy – Oil and Water Read More »
Ted Eytan, MD, a patient empowerment advocate and a fellow Tweeple provided a heads up about a clip from 30 Rock which all us non-medical professionals can relate to. It’s brought to us by Hulu: Have you had this experience? Is negative a positive? Or is positive a negative? Isn’t this just a great example
30 Rock, Medical Tests, When Negative is Positive (or Vice Versa?) Read More »
Betsy McCaughey, director of RID (Reduce Hospital Deaths) reminds us in her latest Wall Street Journal article that those hospital germs, the ones that cause death and debilitation, are everywhere. In her most recent article, she points to doctors’ and nurses’ scrubs, coats, ties — their clothing. MRSA, C.Diff. and other infectious pathogens cling to
More Infection Warnings – Tools to Prevent Germy Spread Read More »
