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I found myself on a pilgrimage of sounds. Disabled. Left out. Mobile. Podcasting in Spain from my wheelchair in 2019. Portugal Camino next. Anything different? Buen Camino
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Trust in journalism. Still complicated. Do we value connection over logic? Are we persuadable? What is the mix of facts, context, opinions? Learn from Joy Mayer
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I find myself on a pilgrimage. I thought I was tagging along with my wife’s hiking group through rural, Northern Spain as a disabled person. But instead, I find myself on a pilgrimage. A pilgrimage of sounds. Buen Camino
I attended the tenth annual Healthcare Literacy in Research Conference in DC last week as a PCORI Ambassador. As is my habit, when I go to conferences I think, So what? How does this help lay people navigating health and illness?
What is literacy anyway? Ability to read and write? No, that’s not enough. Maybe it’s more. Keywords may include: understand, communicate, useful, culture. Understand whom? People understanding professionals? Professionals understanding people? Who communicates? People, communities, professionals communicate with each other. Communicate what? Useful knowledge about illness, health, or life? Or all of it? In a culture of doctors, nurses, hospitals, and clinics? OR culture of people and communities?
So, at the conference, I was looking for co-produced research (researcher and patient partners) about lay people, professionals, and communities understanding each other to increase useful knowledge about less illness and best health.
Here’s a sample of the best of what I heard and learned.
I was disappointed that I saw few co-produced studies. The research was mostly about illness literacy of lay people in the cultures of doctors, hospitals, and clinics with notable exceptions such as those above. Slowly, we progress. A valuable conference. A good use of my time.
Imagine sitting down with your patient and care partner to find them prepared to choose a treatment that works for them.
Imagine that they know their life priorities and their life challenges and can and will communicate them to you.
Imagine that you have a key to the Tower of Babel and can communicate with anyone.
Imagine that you have the latest research at your fingertips so you can have informed conversations with your patient.
Imagine that they understand that recommended treatments might work. It’s an experiment based on pretty good research, your clinical experience and training, and your sensitivity to them.
Imagine that you all accept the uncertainty of evidence and of life.
Imagine that they trust you.
Imagine that you have all the time you need together with no distractions for you or them.
Imagine that your practice runs so efficiently and effectively that most of your face time with patients is spent in relationship building, exam, and problem-solving.
Imagine that by spending a few minutes together, you can to input assessment and exam and their data seamlessly into their electronic medical record (EHR).
Imagine that they can and do submit corrections to the data in their records and that those corrections can be reviewed and entered quickly.
Imagine that it’s easy to track in the EHR how well the actions taken to treat actually worked over time using your entries and their entries.
Imagine that the recommendations chosen automatically populate a personal care plan for your patient along with all the other choices you made together about treatment and self-care.
Imagine that they will follow the plan, track progress, and let you know when they don’t and why.
Imagine that the up-to-date treatment plan and tracker is shareable in real time with anyone the patient chooses using any EHR or health app.
Imagine that you have all the information you need to make decisions about your medical treatment including the cost of those choices.
Imagine that the information can be shared with your family, friends, and advisors so you are prepared to advocate for yourself and make decisions with your doctor.
Imagine that you can talk about your life’s goals and challenges and that your doctor can hear you.
Imagine that all health professionals realize that they are guests in your life.
Imagine that you have time to talk and share with your doctor without distractions.
Imagine that your doctor trusts you to be the expert about you.
Imagine that your doctor helps you understand research and how it applies to you.
Imagine that you have a care partner who goes to doctor visits with you, listens and advocates for you.
Imagine that your health and wellness choices and plans can be found in your EHR.
Imagine that you can correct and update your health data and track your progress in your EHR.
Imagine you have one up-to-date EHR for all settings and providers and you control who has access to it.
Imagine that you have access to medical advice and can get questions answered when you need it, in a manner that you can digest.
Imagine that if you try something and it doesn’t work, you can adjust quickly with your health team to try something else.
Photo by Bonnie Kittle on Unsplash
I care about what works for people on their health journey. How do lay people make choices for themselves in partnership with their clinician partners? So much affects our health choices, not just our medical decisions, but our behavior, our communities, the environment and the systems we use to survive and live well. I’m very interested in research, but I’m also a skeptic: How does this study help me? How does it help my family? How does it help my clinician partners? How does it help the people who support and care for us? We are the people at the center of care. Just because we found out that something might work in a lab, does that mean will it work for us? Read More
In its simplest form communication is who, what and how. Who needs to communicate? What do they need to communicate? How will they communicate? Our healthcare depends on communication between all members of the health team. That communication exists in relationships. What do people at the center of care and professionals in healthcare look for in their relationships? Much as with any relationship – access when needed, exchange of information, listening, respect, speaking the same language, understanding each other’s values and priorities, follow through. Not easy in the best of circumstances. I’m amazed that we expect consistently good communication in healthcare. How can there be? Communication in health care is fascinating! Anyway….
I am a member of the Academy of Communication in Healthcare. I went to Baltimore this week to attend the International Conference on Communication in Healthcare and the Health Literacy Annual Research Conference. My attendance was sponsored by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) as part of their Ambassador program.
My goodness, an International Conference on Communication in Healthcare!! Still my beating heart.
As in most healthcare conferences these days the buzzword is Patient-centered. Buzzwords are weird. They make me suspicious. Patient-centered often feels to me like health professionals dragging the patient into the center with them (as in making sure we understand them and do what they want). Sometimes, however, patient-centered appears to mean empathy (walking in someone else’s shoes). So what is it? Dragging or walking? Read More
I’ve been feeling my oats in 2016 as an advocate and catalyst for Empowering people as they travel together toward best health. As my dear friend, Mary Sue said, Danny, you’ve found your calling! Wearing my many hats, I often feel like I know enough to be dangerous about much of healthcare. When I walk into a room of experts in their fields – clinicians, researchers, policy makers, techies, insurers, executives, I think, What am I doing here? I’m way over my head. It takes two minutes to understand that I’m the connector of their considerable expertise to the workflow and life flow of patients, clinicians, caregivers, and staff. I’m also the translator among their jargons. I can shift the conversation by offering a voice for some experiences of patients, caregivers, and clinicians.
I’ve refined my work this year as a connector, translator, and advisor while working as a technical expert in patient-centered research, behavioral health information technology, community health, and health payment innovation. I’ve benefited from the warm embrace of Wellesley Partners during this transition year after leaving my 40+ years as an employee and boss. I am grateful that they believed in me and helped me polish a few rough edges of inexperience. I also appreciate the counsel of many – Doug, Geri, Pat(s), Juhan, Bevin, Eve, Jarred, Keren, Jonathan, Sarah, and Lauren to name a few. You all know who you are. Thanks. I’m grateful for the many inspiring people in the patient/caregiver/clinician experience space. Thanks for all you do. You keep my embers glowing. Read More
I spoke with a friend this week who felt like a stranger in a strange land. She’s recently moved to a community with almost no experience with Muslims, people from West Africa, or with those with chronic pain from a genetic disease. Every encounter presents challenges drawing on her charisma, empathy, dignity and ability to adapt and educate – sometimes during the crisis of severe pain. During my friend’s medical encounters she does not face a health literacy dilemma. She is usually more expert about her culture and her health challenges than the medical professionals she meets. She faces a life literacy dilemma. In my life as a patient and career as a clinician, I face an infinite variety of people, cultures, and situations different from my own or my comfort. I am often at a loss at how to engage this range of clinicians (as a patient) and people (as a clinician). How can we proactively prepare for so much unknown and unfamiliar? Read More
I play baritone saxophone in community Latin and blues funk bands. Our professional musician leader teaches us the language of music theory – this week it’s Minor Dorian and Lydian scales. As an amateur, I understand about a third of what he’s talking about. Still better than a quarter understood six months ago. In Washington this week I reviewed funding applications for PCORI (Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute). I serve as a patient reviewer. I made a point about the impact that the frailty of a person with congestive heart failure might have on readmission to the hospital. The review leader asked me if I meant xxxxxxxx (something about the methodology of the research study). I had to say, probably not, since I didn’t understand a word you just said. I understand about 2/3 of the scientific conversation at thes
e sessions. I also take part in calls for OpenID HEART Working Group that intends to harmonize and develop a set of privacy and security specifications that enable an individual to control the authorization of access to RESTful health-related data sharing APIs, and to facilitate the development of interoperable implementations of these specifications by others. I still don’t really understand those words. I understand about 25% of the conversation, up from the 5% understanding when I started a year or so ago. Read More
