Rules of Patient Engagement: How to Deeply Connect with Empathy

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,…

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Technology Is Not The Reason For Cost Escalation in Health Care – It Is How We Misuse It

Guest post by Stephen C. Schimpff, MD We are often told that the reason for the high cost of medical care is all of our new technologies and drugs. There is an element of truth in that but when used correctly, new technologies save lives and improve the quality of patient care and often improve safety.  But technologies used inappropriately increase costs while not improving quality and may adversely impact safety. Here is a patient…

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Empowered Patient: Bring a Family Member or Friend with you to Your Doctor’s Appointment

By Barbara Ficarra, RN, BSN, MPA Should you bring a family member or friend with you when a patient has a doctor’s appointment? That is a question explored on a recent post on KevinMD by guest blogger, Diana E. Lee, a chronic migraine patient who blogs at Somebody Heal Me. “Most of the resources I’ve read about how to prepare for a doctor’s appointment recommend bringing a loved one with you so that person can…

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Doctor-Patient Relationship: How Patients Can Help Enhance Communication

By Barbara Ficarra, RN, BSN, MPA From Kevin Pho’s medical blog, KevinMD, a post archived from 2004, Pho talks about the struggles of communication between doctor and patient during the 15 minute office visit. Pho sites a NY Times article that explains that more than two decades ago, research shows that patients were interrupted 18 seconds into explaining their problem (on average) and less than 2 percent got to finish their explanations. Pho sites that…

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