What Patients Really Want to Hear (and See)
Communication is the cornerstone of good healthcare. Despite all the external challenges we face with the system in which we work, those few minutes we spend with patients and their families are precious — and are what we will be remembered for.
Terrifying Brush with Death Drives Doctor to Fight for Patients
The searing abdominal pain came on suddenly while Dr. Rana Awdish was having dinner with a friend. Soon she was lying in the back seat of the car racing to Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, where Awdish was completing a fellowship in critical care.
Doing More Harm Than Good? Epidemic of Screening Burdens Nation’s Older Patients
“In patients well into their 80s, with other chronic conditions, it’s highly unlikely that they will receive any benefit from screening,” says Dr. Cary Gross.
Hurting Silently: Assessing Pain In Nonverbal Patients
There are plenty of things clinicians can do to better evaluate pain in dementia patients and other patients who may not be able to communicate verbally.
Match Quality Of Care With Respect When Treating LGBTQ Patients
Every facility wants to give the best possible care to every patient who walks through its doors, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. But wanting to help people isn’t the same as helping them or knowing what they need.
Improving Transgender Patient Care
The single most important thing a physician can do in caring for transgender patients, is to advise them where to find counselors who can provide appropriate gender dysphoria therapy. Why? The transgender population is at nine times the risk for attempted suicide as the general population.
Family-Centered ICUs Improve Outcomes
To improve medical outcomes in intensive care units, some hospitals are attempting to make units more accessible for patients’ family and caregivers.
Weighing the Pros and Cons of Patient Safety Technology
Although some emerging technology promises a patient safety cure-all, hospitals need to evaluate clinician workflow before implementing new gadgets
Tackling Patients’ Social Problems Can Cut Health Costs
Donning a protective gown, rubber gloves and a face mask, Dayna Gurley looks like she’s heading into surgery. But Gurley is a medical social worker charged with figuring out why her client, a man who uses more health care services than almost anyone else in Houston, has been in three different hospitals in the last month.
Q & A: The Benefits of Patient Engagement
Patient engagement is the missing variable that we haven’t sufficiently studied or acted upon. If you think about how much time we emphasize on chronic disease for example, where it’s responsible for about 40% of the deaths in the U.S. and maybe 70%-80% of the costs.