April 11th, 2009 by Trisha Torrey
It’s a simple question, but it has stirred some controversy. It’s the word “friendly.”
Colleague and fellow passionate advocate Bart Windrum got (as my mother would say) his blood in a bubble after reading an article about engaging a patient advocate to help you navigate your healthcare, recently published in a Tampa newspaper.
In a list of tips about how to advocate for someone else, one tip said, “In hospitals ask, in a friendly way, that every pill, every injection, ….”
Bart thinks that’s ridiculous. He believes “friendly” comes across as “Beg. Acquiesce. Place yourself beneath again, some more.”
Bart is an author of Notes from the Waiting Room. He knows what he is talking about. Bart suggests we be business-like. I agree.
Business-like may be a term lost on some who don’t operate in a business environment. So I call it commanding respect. To gain respect, which is so necessary in any medical setting, you must command it. You earn it by your actions and approach.
(Please note — that does not say “demand respect” — I believe that is impossible in any medical setting unless the other person fears you — another post for another day.)
How will you command that respect? By being diplomatic and concise. Start with polite. Let them know you have specific expectations and want accurate information. Earn / command the respect of those who can get you what you (your patient) needs. If you don’t get the information or action you need in a fair amount of time (some actions require seconds or minutes, others can wait a half hour) then become assertive. Never, ever become aggressive unless it is life and death and you are being ignored.
Here’s an example I got from Charles Inlander, a gentleman who was advocating for patients before most realized they needed it. He was in the hospital, and needed a nurse’s help in the middle of the night. He pushed the call button a number of times and got no response. (Does THAT sound familiar!) So finally he picked up the hospital phone, dialed “O” to get the operator, asked for the nurses’ station on his floor, told the person who answered what need needed, and seconds later the nurse showed up in his room. (I love these kinds of ideas!)
What’s your experience? Have you advocated for a loved one in a hospital? Did “friendly” work when you actually needed something? Or did you find yourself having to be more definite and concise?
Did you command respect?
February 27th, 2009 by Trisha Torrey
A friend and colleague, Franny, shared her story with me and caused my jaw to drop. Then, I realized it didn’t really surprise me at all.
Having suffered months and months of treatment for his brain cancer, Asa’s life was almost lost due to the arrogance of the resident who was in charge of his care.
Read Franny’s story and see what you think. Then see if you agree with the steps she took afterward or whether you might have done something else instead.
A Doctor’s God Complex, a Life Nearly Lost
February 2nd, 2009 by Trisha Torrey
A new post by my blog guest Anonymous, poses a question, “Informed consent is just a cruel joke, isn’t it?”
This gentleman, who underwent surgery, was given Versed as anesthesia, despite stating that he did not want to be given any drug that would render him unconscious. So, not only did he deny consent, he stated that he did not want to be put to sleep at all.
We don’t know too many of the details, and we have not been given the other side of this story.
But it does call patients rights into question. And our understanding of Informed Consent.
Take a read — see what you think — and if you have ideas for what could have been done differently? Please post your comments, too.
Versed, PTSD and Questions About Informed Consent
January 13th, 2009 by Trisha Torrey
Betsy McCaughey, director of RID (Reduce Hospital Deaths) reminds us in her latest Wall Street Journal article that those hospital germs, the ones that cause death and debilitation, are everywhere.
In her most recent article, she points to doctors’ and nurses’ scrubs, coats, ties — their clothing. MRSA, C.Diff. and other infectious pathogens cling to the fabric and get passed from patient to patient.
So — imagine that for a moment — the doctor brushes you with his white coat, that very item that represents his/her MD-dom — and passes an infection on to you which will make you very, very sick, or even kill you.
From Dr. McCaughey’s article:
The problem is that some medical personnel wear the same unlaundered uniforms to work day after day. They start their shift already carrying germs such as C.diff, drug-resistant enterococcus or staphylococcus. Doctors’ lab coats are probably the dirtiest. At the University of Maryland, 65% of medical personnel confess they change their lab coat less than once a week, though they know it’s contaminated. Fifteen percent admit they change it less than once a month. Superbugs such as staph can live on these polyester coats for up to 56 days.
Do unclean uniforms endanger patients? Absolutely. Health-care workers habitually touch their own uniforms. Studies confirm that the more bacteria found on surfaces touched often by doctors and nurses, the higher the risk that these bacteria will be carried to the patient and cause infection.
According to Dr. McCaughey, hospitals used to provide laundered uniforms and scrubs to their personnel, but that practice has gone by the wayside.
So, it seems like it would be a good practice to bring back. Especially since Medicare is no longer paying for care for patients who acquire infections in the hospital, it seems that laundering that clothing would be far less expensive than having to eat the cost of caring for so many infected patients.
Today’s second warning comes from Bottom Line Health, one of my favorite publications. I like Bottom Line because it doesn’t accept advertising, and it always brings in multiple points of view, e.g. the best of Eastern and Western medicine and ideas.
This notation comes from Jean-Yves Maillard, PhD from Cardiff University in Wales, UK who tells us that those disinfectant wipes we use on surfaces to kill bacteria (think clorox wipes, or those wipes they put near the shopping carts at supermarkets) may actually just spread those germs around. We may not be killing those buggers at all! Dr. Maillard suggests instead that we use one wipe per surface — or one swipe per wipe.
When it comes to these killer germs, we patients just can’t be too careful, can we?
