e-Patients Blog
The blog of the Society for Participatory Medicine. Want to be a contributor?
Reflecting on the Importance of Ethics in Clinical Care and Research
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...
The Imperative to Develop the Participatory Patient
A call to action: SPM has failed to create a rigorous, evidence-based model of a participatory patient, so we’ve gotten nowhere in persuading medicine. This must change.
Cost, In Any Other Language
What does healthcare cost mean? I can’t explain it. Listen to Matt Pickering from Nat Quality Forum help us out. Consider serving as a patient rep with NQF. Listen to full 41 min episode here https://health-hats.com/pod145/ YouTube Episode Trailer Proem If a grocery...
An Easy Way we can Help Encourage Healthcare Conferences to Include Patients & Advocates
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...
Social Work and The SPM Manifesto: It Just Makes Sense
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...
Innovation, Local Persistence
Innovation is not like switching on a lightbulb for the world. Rather it's local iterative, persistent steps. Thoughts from the Patient Experience Symposium. Listen to the podcast here https://health-hats.com/pod144/ Proem As I left the Patient Experience Symposium in...
Video Series: Doctor to Doctor – How to be an Engaged Patient
Conversations between SPM co-founder and Chief Advocacy Officer, Danny Sands MD and Annie Brewster...
Trust and Respect between Doctor and Patient are Critical to the Healing Process
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...
Following in the Footsteps of Others to become an Empowered Patient Advocate
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...
There’s More to Participatory Medicine than Doctors and Patients
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...
Video Series: Doctor to Doctor – Meeting Patients Where They Are
Conversations between SPM co-founder and Chief...
The Manifesto is a Helpful Framework for Finding Healthcare in the LGBTQ+ Community
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...