Oct 15 2017
1
Transformational Leaders

Dragging or Walking?

By | Advocate, Caregiver, Clinician, ePatient, Researcher | No Comments

In its simplest form communication is who, what and how.  Who needs to communicate? What do they need to communicate? How will they communicate? Our healthcare depends on communication between all members of the health team. That communication exists in relationships.  What do people at the center of care and professionals in healthcare look for in their relationships? Much as with any relationship – access when needed, exchange of information, listening, respect, speaking the same language, understanding each other’s values and priorities, follow through. Not easy in the best of circumstances. I’m amazed that we expect consistently good communication in healthcare. How can there be? Communication in health care is fascinating! Anyway….

I am a member of the Academy of Communication in Healthcare. I went to Baltimore this week to attend the International Conference on Communication in Healthcare and the Health Literacy Annual Research Conference. My attendance was sponsored by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) as part of their Ambassador program.

My goodness, an International Conference on Communication in Healthcare!! Still my beating heart.

As in most healthcare conferences these days the buzzword is Patient-centered. Buzzwords are weird. They make me suspicious. Patient-centered often feels to me like health professionals dragging the patient into the center with them (as in making sure we understand them and do what they want). Sometimes, however, patient-centered appears to mean empathy (walking in someone else’s shoes). So what is it? Dragging or walking? Read More

Oct 08 2017
0

Help Making Choices

By | Caregiver, Clinician, ePatient | No Comments

Let’s continue the conversation about making choices along our health journey. I call this choice-making informed decision-making. Some call it shared decision-making, others call it clinical decision-making. Common to all three labels is that decisions are made based upon evidence (research) when evidence is available. Remember that evidence says that under specific circumstances for certain groups of people (populations or communities) choice A is more likely than choice B to lead to a desired goal or outcome. For me (an individual) sometimes it doesn’t. And, in spite of $billions spent on research, most health decisions lack a supporting body of evidence – just too many decisions out there. As a patient and caregiver, I know that most of my health-related decisions aren’t clinical. They involve my behavior and my team’s behavior, the environment, my genetics, my social circumstances, the community I live in, and, of course, luck. Read More

Oct 01 2017
0

Health Goals to Clinical Decisions (CDS)

By | Caregiver, Clinician, ePatient, Researcher | 2 Comments

It’s hard to reach personal health goals or solve medical problems without a plan.  Plans require decisions. Never-ending decisions (choices) in the health journey. Clinicians, researchers, and insurance companies study and use Clinical Decision Support (CDS) to help with the decision-making process. It’s a shortcut for using research (evidence) in the decision-making. Some talk about patient-centered decision support (see a definition at the bottom of this post). They’re trying to figure out how to help people to make decisions in two minutes of ten-minute visits. Yet, few patients or caregivers I’ve met ever talk about CDS.  So how can people understand the value and limitations of CDS? Read More

Sep 24 2017
0
Favorite vest

Adjusting Your Personal Health Plan? Right…

By | Caregiver, ePatient | No Comments

My mother bought me a beautiful handmade brocade vest when I lost 45 pounds.  It’s my favorite. I can’t button it now. Not even close. I haven’t worn it in several years. My personal health goal: Lose weight and keep it off.  It may be the most common American health goal. American’s spent about $60 billion on weight loss in 2013. Every year, 45 million Americans go on a diet. So, I’ve learned that I can lose weight, but not keep it off.  To attain my goal I need to adjust my health plan.

What is adjusting? Set a goal, try something, be dissatisfied with the result (learn), then adjust. Adjusting means changing a habit. In my experience as a student of individual and organization health, changing a habit is hard, very hard. I think of changing habits like watching water flow – water flows in the path of least resistance, makes a channel, and gets deeper.  We mostly like and value those channels. They’re comfortable until they flood or become polluted. Read More

Sep 17 2017
2

I am Not My Condition

By | ePatient | One Comment

I’m Disabled. Who labels themselves? Feels like crap. I applied for disability. Needed a psychological evaluation. Spent an hour with a psychologist. I spent that hour telling her about the effect MS has had on my life. MS is seriously annoying…. Came out feeling terrible.  “Oh man, I’m disabled. My life has been so disrupted. I can’t do what I once did. Woe is me.” Lost my pathological optimism for a day. I’ve had to train myself over the years to feel sorry for myself. “OK 5 min, feel sorry.” Enough of that. It’s too boring. When I feel sorry for myself my symptoms are worse. Direct correlation.

Lots of people have it worse than me, much worse.   Read More

Sep 10 2017
1
Learning What Works

Learning What Works

By | Caregiver, ePatient, Researcher | One Comment

One of my passions in life is Learning What Works for people on their health journey. As we travel, we make choices – endless choices.  Should I do A rather than B? Eat the brownie or don’t eat the brownie? Take a walk or don’t? Go to the doctor or wait until I feel worse? Fill the prescription the doctor wrote or don’t? Have surgery or wait and see? Stay home with my dad with dementia or arrange for home care? Or we make no decision at all (a decision in itself). Sometimes people search for help in making these choices. Help from professionals on their care team, from their care partner, from Dr. Google, from their mates or social network.

Learning what works is an experiment.

A person tries something – it worked or it didn’t – for them. To know it worked means that the person has an idea of what they are trying to accomplish (See my post on personal health goals). And that they think there’s a relationship between what they tried and what they accomplished (or didn’t). I have a fever, took an aspirin, and the fever dropped. I have heartburn, stopped eating chocolate, and now less heartburn. My MS symptoms are getting worse. I reduce manageable stress. My symptoms subside. What’s important in all this is that I know what I want, I try something, and I feel better or accomplish what I wanted (or didn’t). Some people, like me, have a written care plan and keep track with lists and spreadsheets. (See my post on planning personal care)  Most don’t. Read More

Sep 03 2017
0
Checklist

Plan of Care – So Many Questions

By | Caregiver, Clinician, ePatient | No Comments

I am on a health journey, trying to meet my health goals with the support of a care team. Who’s doing what? When are they doing it? That’s my plan of care for me.

Most people don’t normally think in terms of a plan of care for themselves. Let’s peek into their minds:

Plan of Care – What’s Going on in Their Minds?

Patient: What’s wrong with me? Should I tell the doctor? What does she want me to do?  Can I afford it? Does it (will it) hurt? Can I (will I) still be able to take care of my family (go to work, go out, have fun)? What happens next? How’m I doing now? Did the med (the procedure, the diet…) work? Did it help me? What should I worry about? What should I do if it happens (again)?

Clinician: What’s on his mind? What’s wrong with him? What should I do next?  What did I prescribe before? Did he do it, did he take it? Will he tell me the truth? If he did it, did it work? What do the tests tell me? What should I prescribe next?  What are other doctors doing (ordering)? Has he been to the hospital since I saw him last?

Questions, questions, questions. So many bumps in the road and detours in the health journey. Few maps, spotty GPS at best. Read More

Aug 27 2017
0
Health team teamwork

Health Team Relationships

By | Caregiver, Clinician, ePatient | No Comments

My primary care doc’s medical technician came in to take my vital signs, “I’m Frank. I’m new to Dr. Z’s team.” “Hi, I’m Danny,” I replied. “Dr. Z’s on my health team. Welcome to the team.” Big smile from Frank, “Hmm, I never heard that one before.”

My PCP and neurologist get a kick out of me and my engagement in my health. I get the feeling I’m unusual, but I’ve never asked. We have a relationship and a communication style that works for us. But what if it doesn’t? Read More

Aug 19 2017
0

Byzantine Access to My Health Data Serves Whom? Not Me

By | Advocate, Caregiver, ePatient | One Comment

I have secondary progressive multiple sclerosis.  Today, I have a primary care physician in one health system, and four specialists in three other health systems (each has unique ownership, medical record, and patient portal). I use two retail pharmacies, one specialty pharmacy, and three lab services.  I also see an acupuncturist, chiropractor, physical therapist, and massage therapist. I use two durable medical equipment companies. These services almost exclusively communicate through me (or fax – my grandsons don’t know what a fax is). My personal team is my wife, two adult sons, their spouses, and a sister. I have to give them my sign in and password to access the portals. I use a spreadsheet, and three apps to track stuff. I don’t have the patience for the work of building my personal health record in an app. I have no idea what happens to my data in PatientsLikeMe and other businesses. I’d like to give authorization when I think it’s right and track who’s using what, but I can’t. I’m doing OK, thanks for asking. Read More

Aug 13 2017
0

The Personal Health Journey

By | Advocate, Caregiver, ePatient | No Comments

The metaphor, Personal Health Journey, works for me. We’re heading somewhere for health whether on purpose or not. We’re never actually there. It’s continual – until it isn’t. Sometimes we have a map, sometimes we don’t. Map or not, we’re still heading somewhere:  work, the grocery store, our in-laws, the beach. There’s always decisions to make on a journey: stop for gas, rest, sight see, go left, go right? Same with the health journey.

The journey is different if we’re well, acutely ill, chronically ill or dying. Our aspirations are different.  When we’re well we either don’t think about our health or we want to stay well. When we’re acutely ill (now we’re a patient), we want to get over it. When we’re chronically ill we want to live the best life possible. When we’re dying we want to live as long as possible or live as best as possible OR both. The journey is different, too. For the well it’s Inertia or Select Personal Health Goals-> Act and Track->Deal with symptoms when they arise. For the acutely ill it’s Symptom->Diagnosis->Treatment->Recovery->Back to Well or on to Chronically Ill (thanks to John Mitchell at Applied Marketing Science).  For the chronically ill it’s Disbelief->Grief->Get help (care and treatment)->Recalibrate->Maintain->Give back->Relapse (and back again). Read More