by Helga Yang | Nov 8, 2021
In the fall of 2020, in the depths of the pandemic, I attended the Philadelphia Inquirer Telling Your Health Story Conference from the safety of my home. I had volunteered to do the Story Slam at the end of the conference and planned on presenting a piece about caring...
by Vasilliki E. Kalodimou, MD | Nov 1, 2021
Working as a health care researcher can be both rewarding and challenging, as daily we need to remember our commitment to our patients’ well-being and ethics to support treatment decisions. We are all familiar with deplorable abuses of human subjects in research, such...
by Daniel Halpren-Ruder, MD | Oct 25, 2021
We Have Failed The Society for Participatory Medicine was founded in 2009 to transform the culture of care. A few years later, a comprehensive history of the forces that resulted in the creation of the Society was presented here by Millenson: Spock, feminists, and...
by Geri Lynn Baumblatt | Oct 11, 2021
I have attended hundreds of conferences: patient experience, patient education, health tech, health literacy, shared decision making — and the best part has always been meeting other advocates, patients, and family caregivers. Too often, unfortunately, these...
by Sean Erreger | Oct 4, 2021
Navigating youth and their families through what is often a complex mental health system is a job that is frustrating but also an honor. As a licensed social worker, my compass through the journey is guided by a group of core values. The National Association of...
by Eric Bersh | Sep 27, 2021
Conversations between SPM co-founder and Chief Advocacy Officer, Danny Sands MD and Annie Brewster MD, founder of Health Story Collaborative. Here they discuss meeting patients where they are. Did you enjoy this video? Sign the Manifesto and learn more about...
by Amy Camie | Sep 21, 2021
Years before the first of my two breast cancer diagnoses, I shared live harp music in chemotherapy infusion units, spoke to support groups about the healing power of music, and developed a clinical trial exploring the effects of specific music on patients undergoing...
by Carly Flumer | Sep 13, 2021
I didn’t want to tell anyone about my diagnosis. I thought my family and a few close friends were enough. But I got brave one day four years ago and posted about it on social media. The outpouring of support was incredible. I thought, if I’m receiving this much...
by Jay Spitulnik | Sep 7, 2021
Throughout the history of the Society for Participatory Medicine (SPM), the discussions have focused on two groups of participants. The first is the patient and caregivers. SPM’s work, as illustrated in the Manifesto, has been dedicated to ensuring that members of...
by Eric Bersh | Aug 30, 2021
Conversations between SPM co-founder and Chief Advocacy Officer, Danny Sands MD and Annie Brewster MD, founder of Health Story Collaborative. Here they discuss meeting patients where they are. Did you enjoy this video?...
by Tim Blevins | Aug 23, 2021
Having been in healthcare for over 30 years as a clinician and working for four health plans, I am fortunate enough to have had exposure to a very broad network of healthcare professionals and have a deep understanding of healthcare systems and structures. I have...
by Randy Houk | Aug 16, 2021
I am so honored and excited to introduce myself to you, SPM Blog readers, SPM members and friends, and to share with you a preview of coming attractions. By that I mean that since I’ve been the new Executive Director for SPM for a day and a half, my vision for what...
by Jessica Zitter, MD MPH | Aug 10, 2021
I received an uncharacteristically anxious text from my friend Aileen: “I am having an emergency with my Mom. Please call ASAP.” When I last talked to Aileen, her mother’s dementia had been worsening slowly. A little more confusion, a stovetop left burning after...
by Eric Bersh | Aug 2, 2021
Conversations between SPM co-founder and Chief Advocacy Officer, Danny Sands MD and Annie Brewster MD, founder of Health Story Collaborative. Here they discuss the meaning and intent of Participatory Medicine. Did you enjoy this video? Sign the Manifesto and learn...
by Richard G Kahn | Jul 29, 2021
Usually, I write from the perspective of a patient advocate diagnosed with Wolfram-like syndrome, a rare disorder of the endoplasmic reticulum that typically manifests first with optic atrophy, then insulin-dependent diabetes. For the purposes of this blog post,...
by Eric Bersh | Jul 22, 2021
Conversations between SPM co-founder and Chief Advocacy Officer, Danny Sands MD and Annie Brewster MD, founder of the Health Story Collaborative. Here they discuss what it means being a doctor and having to say “I don’t know” to a patient. Did you enjoy this video?...
by Carlos Briceño | Jul 20, 2021
I don’t like having something wrong with my body. I don’t like feeling achy. I can’t stand fevers. I don’t like being sick. When I do get ill, I want whatever healthcare team I deal with to be full of empathy and quick to figure out what ails me. If that sounds a bit...
by Mohammed Mallouh | Jul 14, 2021
In 2013 the Institute of Medicine published a landmark 436 page consensus report, Best Care at Lower Cost: The Path to Continuously Learning Health Care in America. Its summary contains the characteristics of a continuously learning system: Note that the second...
by Christophe Jauquet | Jul 3, 2021
For the past 20 years, I’ve been involved in designing diverse health experiences: from diagnostic to adherence tools, from software for cytostatic preparation, to integrated mobile health solutions. During these projects, I cannot say that the patient was never...
by Lygeia Ricciardi | Jun 28, 2021
When my daughter Ada was an infant, a cardiologist told me that she needed open heart surgery, the sooner the better. Ada had been born with a small hole in her heart (a VSD), which, the doctor said, could stunt her growth and potentially cause heart failure or brain...
In Memory of Nancy Finn: e-Patient, Advocate, Author, SPM SupporterJuly 16, 2025
A cure for what killed Doc Tom! Can people afford it?June 27, 2025
Learning Health Systems Empower Every American to Actually Make America Healthy Again Together, Part 2May 29, 2025
More important than Time and MoneyFebruary 5, 2025
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