PREPARED PATIENT BLOG

Patients and experts explore what it takes to find good health care and make the most of it.

Are Patient Navigators Necessary? Or Just Nice?

Jessie Gruman | May 22, 2013

I know that each time I have received a cancer-related diagnosis, I felt like I had been drop-kicked into a foreign country: I didn't know the language, I didn't understand the culture, I didn't have a map and I desperately wanted to find my way home.
 

Latest Health Behavior News

Health Behavior News Service | May 22, 2013
This week in health news: Trauma care disparities persist for blacks | Calorie info on menus starts to have an effect | Soda in schools may lead black students to drink more | “Eat Fresh”? Not necessarily

Time’s “How to Cure Cancer” Cover – Worst of the Year?

Gary Schwitzer | May 20, 2013
That’s what journalist Seth Mnookin writes on Slate, stating, further, that it is “wrong, grandiose, and cruel.” He writes, “I haven’t found a single cancer researcher who believes this means we’re on the verge of curing cancer.”

Rationing Medications

Trudy Lieberman | May 15, 2013
In America, the conventional wisdom is that we don't ration health care. But we do, and there's no better example than patients rationing themselves when it comes to the medicines they take.

Is Patient Engagement a Set-Up for Failure?

Jessie Gruman | May 15, 2013
“Maybe we shouldn’t urge people to engage in their health care: it sets them up for failure and punishment from their clinicians.”

A senior patient advocate and researcher recently made this comment to a gathering of experts in patient engagement. For a few minutes, I was inclined to agree with her.

My Weekend as an Emergency Patient and What I Learned

Anne Polta | May 13, 2013
If you want to see what health care is really like, there’s no better way than by becoming a patient yourself. To paraphrase the wisdom of Dr. Seuss, “Oh, the things you’ll learn!”

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