The Doctor/Patient Relationship By Barbara Ficarra, RN, BSN, MPA What do patients want? Despite the technological promises of the Health 2.0 movement, in some ways it’s really no different today than it was forty years ago. An article that appeared in Time Magazine on May 13, 1966 says: Today, Americans get far better medical care than ever before; as for the rest [of the doctor-patient relationship], they are often lucky to get as much as…
Read More...Empathy for Family Members
From the Front Lines By Barbara Ficarra, RN, BSN, MPA As nurses we tend to focus on treating a patient’s illness and still show compassion. As a nurse I try to feel the surroundings. I try to sense not only what a patient is going through, but what the family goes through. And yes, I need to avoid being so intertwined with a patient that it becomes emotionally overwhelming. The key is to separate the…
Read More...How to Question Doctors and Nurses — Without “Challenging” Them
By Barbara Ficarra I think there is a huge difference between challenging a doctor or nurse and simply questioning a doctor or nurse. In yesterday’s The Wall Street Journal, in an article titled “Finding a Way To Ask Doctors Tough Questions,” Laura Landro writes: “Despite efforts by advocacy groups and others to empower patients, challenging a doctor or nurse on whether they are correctly doing their jobs remain downright intimidating. Signs and posters in hospitals…
Read More...Real Simple Magazine Taps Experts for Emergency Care Advice
Preparing for Life’s Mishaps by Barbara Ficarra, RN, BSN, MPA Having this card in your wallet could save your life in an ER When Real Simple Magazine reporter contacted me for a story on emergency rooms, I was delighted to help out. I think it’s important for readers to have the perspective from a nurse on the front line of the ER as well as ER doctors. The March edition of Real Simple is on…
Read More...Increased Nurse Staffing Leads to Greater Patient Satisfaction
Increased Nurse Staffing Leads to Greater Patient Satisfaction By Debra Wood, RN, contributor AMN Healthcare [Barbara Ficarra is quoted as an expert in this article about nurse staffing.] American patients generally express satisfaction with their hospital stays, and those treated in facilities with a high ratio of nurses to patient days feel more positively about their experience than other patients, according to a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. “Whenever there…
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