e-Patients Blog
The blog of the Society for Participatory Medicine. Want to be a contributor?
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...
An Introduction to our new Executive Director, Randy Houk
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...
It’s Time to Acknowledge the Invisible Caregivers Among Us
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...
Video Series: Doctor to Doctor – What is Participatory Medicine?
Conversations between SPM co-founder and Chief Advocacy Officer, Danny Sands MD and Annie Brewster MD,...
Pay Attention to the Symptoms, but Don’t Ignore the Patient
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,...
Video Series: Doctor to Doctor
Conversations between SPM co-founder and Chief Advocacy Officer, Danny Sands MD and Annie Brewster MD,...
Seeing Red about Pink Eye
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...
Boost Health IT’s Impact: Think With a Participatory Lens
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...
Participation starts with understanding goals, values and preferences
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...
Join SPM in August at the HIMSS21 Conference
The HIMSS21 Global Health Conference & Exhibition brings you the world-class education, cutting-edge products and solutions, and unique networking opportunities you need to solve your biggest health information and technology challenges -- all at one time, all in...
From the Heart: My Patient Engagement Journey
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...
