by e-Patient Dave | Dec 29, 2010
Kent Bottles MD is one of the best healthcare thinkers I’ve met. Yesterday he completed a two-part tour de force on The Health Care blog titled “The Difficult Science.” Here are part 1 and part 2. This is about “how do we know what we think we...
by Susannah Fox | Dec 28, 2010
Jessie Gruman’s Journal of Participatory Medicine commentary, “Evidence That Engagement Does Make a Difference,” reminded me of a talk delivered by Alice Tolbert Coombs, M.D., last September: As you listen to Dr. Coombs’s chilling story about...
by e-Patient Dave | Dec 22, 2010
What do we (patients) call ourselves? This is a deep subject that’s been debated a lot. (If I were Susannah Fox I’d toss in a dozen worthy links here:), but I’m short on time. Please add some in comments.) There is indeed power in the words we use,...
by e-Patient Dave | Dec 20, 2010
Headline and body edited Oct 6, 2013: the original post talked about “practice variation,” but that was bad wording. The problem is unwarranted practice variation: variation that, when studied, is not warranted by actual differences between cases....
by e-Patient Dave | Dec 20, 2010
If you don’t truly understand how draining it can be to live with chronic illness, including chronic pain, go read The Spoon Theory right now. In 5 minutes it forever changed my own awareness of my wife’s arthritis and bone pain. On Twitter I saw...
by Susannah Fox | Dec 13, 2010
Given the evidence that people are ready, willing, and able to engage in online discussions about cancer prevention and treatment, what steps are being taken to ensure that the U.S. (and the world) does not miss this latest opportunity for education and discovery? The...
by e-Patient Dave | Dec 12, 2010
All, if you have a story where you were affected by being involved (or not) in a medical decision, please see my request at “Help Me Represent You” below. Same if you have points you want me to bring to this seminar’s attention. I feel extremely fortunate...
by Susannah Fox | Dec 10, 2010
The New York State Department of Health AIDS Institute, in partnership with AIDS.gov, held a one-day forum on social media, HIV, and sexually transmitted infections (STI) that turned out to be an unfiltered discussion of love, truth, and technology. Why was it so...
by e-Patient Dave | Dec 6, 2010
I’m at the annual IHI Forum in Orlando, in an all-day workshop (class photo at left) titled “Whose Care Is It, Anyway … and Can Health IT Help?” Laura Adams of the Rhode Island Quality Institute was just talking about the social obstacles to...
by Peter Frishauf | Dec 3, 2010
(To help you visualize the scene, see the famous Coca-Cola Santa image. Now imagine Peter Frishauf asking Santa for that train set!) Dear Santa, I always believed in you Santa. All those kids who said it wasn’t true, you weren’t real, well guess what: I knew you were....
by e-Patient Dave | Dec 2, 2010
A year ago Gangadhar Sulkunte shared his story here about how he and his wife became e-patients of necessity, and succeeded, resolving a significant issue through empowered, engaged research. As today’s guest post shows, he’s now actively engaged in...
by e-Patient Dave | Dec 1, 2010
Social media brings unexpected connections, which lets us combine thoughts and forces. This summer we connected with “Rheumatoid Arthritis Warrior” Kelly Young (see her great post here, Learning to use my mother-of-a-patient voice), which led to being...
by Susannah Fox | Nov 30, 2010
What evidence would you bring to convince cancer researchers and policy makers to pay attention to how the internet is changing health and health care? That’s my challenge for the Dec. 14 meeting of the President’s Cancer Panel, “The Future of Cancer...
by e-Patient Dave | Nov 29, 2010
Ted Eytan drew our attention to a real-time example of participatory thinking, in the case of his friend Matt, an engineer who’s recently been diagnosed with MS. His post This is what $8,000 worth of drugs looks like tells the story, including videos of two...
by e-Patient Dave | Nov 27, 2010
I’m preparing to participate next month in a seminar on shared decision making, and some homework led me to this government paper, published in July: Equity & Excellence: Liberating the NHS (PDF, 339k). I must not have been paying attention to my UK friends...
by Jon Lebkowsky | Nov 26, 2010
I spoke recently at a summit organized by Consumers Union’s Safe Patient Project, and learned in detail about the persistence and prevalence of hospital-acquired infections and other safety risks. Hospitals are not as safe as they should and could be, and...
by Susannah Fox | Nov 24, 2010
Can you and your loved ones answer 5 questions about the end of life? Alex Drane, founder of Engage With Grace, explains why Thanksgiving is a good time to talk about these issues: If you have thoughts to share about Engage With Grace, end-of-life decisions, or...
by Susannah Fox | Nov 23, 2010
What’s the point of all this technology if it doesn’t motivate behavior change? That’s what we debated almost a year ago and now I’d like to bring up the same question, but with a few more examples. If you have time, I highly recommend watching...
by Susannah Fox | Nov 22, 2010
I have seen the future of health and it’s networks (with apologies to Lincoln Steffens). Chronic disease is exploding in the U.S. The number of primary care health professionals is declining. Behavior change is difficult. But what are we going to do about it?...
by Susannah Fox | Nov 22, 2010
My research findings and their connection with real-life health care were given new life when I discussed them with Lisa Gualtieri, Josh Bernoff, Tim Edgar, and the audience at the Connected Health symposium. If you’re intrigued, watch a video of the panel and...
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