Editor’s Note: This post was first published October 27, 2021, on the Rants of a Patient Safety Advocate blog. Ilene adds a note to say that she has collected her favorite blog posts and advocacy tips in a book. which can be ordered here. Proceeds help support the Pulse Center for Patient Safety. Congratulations, Ilene! I sat […]
Editor’s Note: This post was first published on October 15, 2020. Last week I wrote about a case study presented in a new book from the National Academy of Sciences’ Roundtable on Health Literacy. The book presents the proceedings of a recent workshop focused on helping children, adolescents and young adults engage in their own […]
When my world became focused on patient safety 30 years ago, it wasn’t only because of my personal experience. It became important because, by talking to others, I heard of many other stories where medical care went wrong or mistakes were made, and though the patients or their families saw it coming, they did not […]
Last week I wrote about a case study presented in a new book from the National Academy of Sciences’ Roundtable on Health Literacy. The book presents the proceedings of a recent workshop focused on helping children, adolescents and young adults engage in their own health and healthcare. This week I want to mention a second […]
As a patient advocate, I received a call from a woman who was angry that she was not permitted to see her husband in the hospital. She said her husband was too tired to speak up and she knows other people were able to visit loved ones. She couldn’t believe that at this hospital no one would […]
Editor’s Note: This post, which describes Sarah Kiehl’s experience with maternal sepsis, first appeared in ImproveDx, digital newsletter of the Society to Improve Diagnosis in Medicine (SIDM). Kiehl is a patient partner in SIDM’s Patients Improving Research in Diagnosis (PAIRED) project. She has also shared her story on the website of the Sepsis Alliance, the organization that launched […]
When it comes to engaging patients, healthcare should take a cue from consumer-facing industries. Why? Patients are consumers. We’ve begun to see a major shift in the healthcare landscape. In the age of Google, patient communities and advocacy organizations, patients are increasingly empowered to take charge of their own health and be the CEO of their […]