After 40 Years, Patients Still Crave Attention and Respect

Guest Blog | Barbara Ficarra September 13, 2009 | Patient Advocacy The Doctor/Patient Relationship 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 […]

Don’t go to the Hospital Without these Ten Safety Tips

A trusted family member or friend should be your advocate Heading to the hospital? Don’t go alone. Knowing exactly what’s going on with your care is critical. Medical mistakes unfortunately do happen in hospitals and shockingly, it is reported that 238,337 patients died from potentially preventable medical errors during 2004 through 2006, according to HealthGrades’ […]

Leaving the Emergency Room

It’s great to be discharged, but be sure to follow instructions! Have you ever been a patient in an emergency department? If your visit to the ED didn’t require an admission, that’s good news. After being told by the ED doctor that you could go home and armed you with discharge instructions, you most likely […]

Nurses and Doctors Together for the Good of the Patients

It’s a very good thing… What were the biggest challenges you faced as a patient in the hospital? If you could change anything about your hospital experience what would it be? Were there enough nurses and doctors on staff to care for you especially at night and on weekends? Was there a team effort between […]

Outdoor Medicine

Hospitalito Atitlan I’m delighted to be able to contribute to Health Commentary by sharing some of my important posts from my blog at Healthline entitled "Medicine for the Outdoors," which can be reached by visiting Healthline. I recently completed a week working at the Hospitalito Atitlan in Santiago, Atitlan, state of Solola in the highlands of […]

Can Health Care Pay Its Way to Success?

I’ve spent more than 30 years in health care and have run the gamut from non-profit to for-profit, from rural to urban, from clinical care to management, from doctor to patient. Along the way, I’ve been exposed to all sorts of incentives. And, looking back, I have to say that beyond the basics of fundamental financial security, […]

True Cost of War in Iraq: Provider Fatigue

As I mentioned earlier this week, prior Health Politics pieces have catalogued the true cost of the war in Iraq. March 19’s Newsweek, mentioned in The Wall Street Journal this week, identifies yet another cost with its coverage of a military study of the mental health of caregivers in Iraq. High or very high degrees […]