A challenge was thrown down on Twitter recently: If we had a Genius Bar for healthcare what would it look like? (paraphrased and originally asked by health designer Nick Dawson) I’ve seen this question before and it reflects a recurring ideal in healthcare: the efficient, service-oriented transactional experience where a problem is identified and fixed. But the ... Continue Reading about Genius Bar for Healthcare – Not Ready for Primetime
Refusing Telemedicine – Can Patients Opt-out of Remote Care?
With the sweeping rise of COVID19 telemedicine has taken healthcare by storm. During the local surges, this served as a mandated way of maintaining safe distancing. But as things come back to a new normal and as we decide where telemedicine fits in to a clinic structure it might be worth asking: should patients have the option for in-person care. Is refusing ... Continue Reading about Refusing Telemedicine – Can Patients Opt-out of Remote Care?
The Patient is Always Right – But Right About What?
In business it’s been suggested that the customer is always right. And in medicine the patient is always right. Right about their perspective. Right about their agenda. Right about their hidden agenda Right about their symptoms. Right about their story. Right about what they're most concerned with. Right about what they ... Continue Reading about The Patient is Always Right – But Right About What?
The Physician and the Health Docent
Last week STAT First Opinion carried the story of a young woman who learned of her BRCA1 (mutation predisposing to breast cancer) mutation on a 23andMe report. She describes the experience of processing that explosive bit of information in the isolation of her own mind and information network. Contrasting this experience with the confirmation of her status with a ... Continue Reading about The Physician and the Health Docent
Non-Place in Health Care
Amber Case got me thinking with this brief essay on the non-place. Briefly defined, non-places are urban or industrial spaces where personhood is put on pause. And they’re everywhere, from airports, highways and chain supermarkets, to narrow, suffocating, condo-filled streets — the in-between spaces where people are without relation or history. In a ... Continue Reading about Non-Place in Health Care
Patient Centered Care – Healthcare’s New Buzzword
The latest trend in health care is patient centered care. It’s a strange term. Strange, because what other kind of care is there? There’s this from the New England Journal of Medicine’s Catalyst: In patient-centered care, an individual’s specific health needs and desired health outcomes are the driving force behind all health care decisions and ... Continue Reading about Patient Centered Care – Healthcare’s New Buzzword