By Barbara Ficarra, RN, BSN, MPA In my recent post on KevinMD, “Deeply connect and engage your patients with empathy,” I write about how empathy is essential to help empower our patients. “It is with empathy that we can engage and empower our patients.” Doctors and nurses are leaders in health care. Being a great leader means having a clear vision, mission or goal. It means being committed, and knowing how to listen and communicate,…
Read More...When Doctors and Nurses Work Together
By Barbara Ficarra, RN, BSN, MPA From KevinMD’s medical blog, in a recent post, Kevin Pho, MD answers the question, “Is the doctor-patient relationship really more sacrosanct than the nurse-patient relationship?” posed by Theresa Brown from the Well Blog, The New York Times Health Blog. The answer is “clearly no” writes Pho. Physicians have the ultimate responsibility for treatment decisions, but because nurses spend so much more time with hospital patients than doctors do, we…
Read More...Friends Put a New Spin on Technology
By Barbara Ficarra, RN, BSN, MPA Turning to friends for online information is the hot topic within the Web world, and in Monday’s New York Times Technology and Business section, Jenna Wortham writes about how “Search Takes a Social Turn.” Online sites are taking notice of what people like. Web companies are trying to make searching online for information more useful by tapping into the inner thoughts of what people like. “After a decade when…
Read More...Teamwork in Medicine is Critical for Quality Patient Care
By Barbara Ficarra, RN, BSN, MPA From KevinMD’s medical blog, guest post by Toni Brayer, MD shares a story where a team approach in medicine is critical for quality patient care. Dr. Bryer writes: “Medicine is a team sport and it is only when the team is humming and everyone is working together that patients can have good outcomes. Hospital errors, medication errors, poor communication between doctors and nurses are prevented by adherence to protocols…
Read More...Social Media and Online Health Sites Begins the Conversation with Doctors and Nurses
By Barbara Ficarra, RN, BSN, MPA My post on KevinMD, “Social media starts the patient dialogue with doctors and nurses” talks about the importance of gathering health information online to get the conversation started with doctors and nurses. A patient apologized to me for asking so many questions. There is no need to apologize, I said to the patient; it’s wonderful that you have so many questions concerning your health care. I mentioned to her…
Read More...