by Danny Sands, MD | Dec 17, 2020
Leadership transitions are an essential part of the maturity of any organization. I have been board chair of Society for Participatory Medicine (SPM) for many years and now it is time to pass the torch to Mary Hennings so that I may become our first chief advocacy...
by e-Patient Dave | Dec 10, 2020
As regular readers know, our Society for Participatory Medicine has always been a strong advocate for the OpenNotes movement as a key enabler of patient power. As co-founder Dr. Danny Sands often says in his speeches, “How can patients participate if they...
by Danny van Leeuwen | Nov 27, 2020
Stories are powerful because they foster human connections, transparency, and innovation, ultimately leading to better experiences for those giving and receiving care. Healthcare workers’ perspectives are critical to creating a shared vision of health care that...
by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. | Jun 10, 2020
Join a live virtual Healing Story Session on June 22! “Pain, suffering, and ambivalence can co-exist with peace, joy, and self-love. Healing can take many forms. Sharing our stories helps others to find their way, and reminds us all that we are not alone.” —...
by e-Patient Dave | Jun 6, 2020
Guest post by SPM member Pam Ressler RN, MS of Stress Resources LLC. See bio at end. I have just finished co-teaching a month-long elective on the topic of pain to a group of rising 4th year medical students. In collaboratively planning the curriculum with my...
by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. | May 19, 2020
The Society for Participatory Medicine (SPM) and the Health Story Collaborative (HSC) are partnering during this time to bring the power of storytelling to health care and explore what it means to practice participatory medicine in times of COVID-19. Please read the...
by e-Patient Dave | May 7, 2020
Editor’s note: This post is from Amber Soucy MSN, RN, a board member of our Society for Participatory Medicine. Like many front-line health workers she hides the stress (see her profile photo at right), but this era is tough in ways nobody ever signed up for,...
by Geri Lynn Baumblatt | Mar 19, 2020
“Information therapy” has long been part of the participatory medicine mindset. (See our 2007 post that mentions Josh Seidman PhD’s Center for Information Therapy – he went on to be president of SPM.) In the COVID-19 era, now more than ever,...
by e-Patient Dave | Mar 17, 2020
“The cure for anxiety is knowledge and preparation.” That line is from the hip and edgy (and smart) Stanford doc @ZDoggMD in the amazing live conversation on YouTube he had with his 12 year old daughter last Friday. Here are some resources. Society for...
by e-Patient Dave | Jan 11, 2020
Editor’s note: this guest post by SPM member and lymphoma survivor Brad Power (LinkedIn) shares his journey to our society and our #S4PM2019 conference last October. Members can submit guest posts to our blog (guidelines). Join SPM here. Here’s the introduction...
by Ileana Balcu | Nov 23, 2019
As I was volunteering for SPM, it took years to learn its history and understand where we are, how the Society got created, and why it is what it is. This is not a historical well-documented history of SPM, it’s my imperfect interpretation of its history. Doc Tom...
by e-Patient Dave | Nov 19, 2019
I’ve just discovered something I’ve long hoped to see: a training module to teach medical students about e-patients and how to interact with them! It’s a paper in the journal Medical Teacher: “But Dr Google said…” – Training medical students how to...
by Ileana Balcu | Nov 15, 2019
My painting teacher, Wes Sherman, calls himself a conservator. He shares paintings, pictures, and tidbits of art history with special attention to artists that inspire him. I learned so much from a year of tidbits shared on Instagram. As I was driving back from the...
by e-Patient Dave | Oct 31, 2019
In 2009, the Society for Participatory Medicine was created to continue the work of “Doc Tom” Ferguson (1943-2006), the founder of the e-patient movement and a true visionary who foresaw decades ago that “e-patients” (empowered, engaged, equipped, enabled)...
by Michael Millenson | Oct 4, 2019
(This post originally appeared Oct. 2, 2019 on EngagingPatients.org) The dating site Match.com wants to help singles “find the kind of relationship they’re looking for” by providing “the tools they need to help take the lottery out of love.” The Centers for Medicare...
by e-Patient Dave | Sep 9, 2019
Our Society’s 2nd Annual “Doc Tom” Awards are now open for nominations! Spread the word, and join us at our annual conference on October 15 for the announcement of our award recipients! Doc Tom Ferguson was the founder of the e-patient movement. To promote his values,...
by e-Patient Dave | Jul 15, 2019
My name is Narinder Singh. I joined SPM in April. That’s my mom in the photo above. Last year our family was caught by surprise when she had a completely unexpected and dramatic ICU stay of three months. We had a lot to learn fast and too little help, and when...
by Danny Sands, MD | May 2, 2019
On Tuesday, April 30, a roomful of health care insiders enjoyed a series of rapid-fire, TED-esque talks, interviews, and panels by leading health care voices at The Atlantic Summit on Health Care (#AtlanticPulse). Several SPM members attended the forum, and we...
by e-Patient Dave | Apr 11, 2019
What if you hired a financial manager to handle your money – a trusted professional, like that guy above – then discovered they didn’t know what they were doing, and your records were a mess? How would you feel? That’s pretty much what happened...
by e-Patient Dave | Mar 27, 2019
This is a guest post by SPM member, heart patient and author Elizabeth Rankin, BScN. Some background: one of the most-discussed topics on our blog is shared decision-making (SDM), with pages and pages of posts (75 in the category), dating back to 2010’s Salzburg...
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