Medical Profession – Page 2 – Living Well While Surviving Cancer

Fight Medicare Fraud and Protect Your Identity

Great Medicare resources!!

Medicare offers numerous tips through its Web site. And it offers good advice to help you fight Medicare fraud and protect your identity.

In a recent E-mail, Medicare offered three specific tips:

1. Protect your identity. “Identity theft happens when someone uses your personal information without your consent to commit fraud or other crimes. Guard your Medicare Number and card, and keep your Social Security Number safe.”
2. Help fight Medicare fraud. “Use your MyMedicare account to stay on top of your claims. If you find errors or fraud, report it to us. Don’t have a MyMedicare account yet? Sign up for free at MyMedicare.gov today.”
3. Know your rights. “You have certain rights and protections designed to make sure you get the health care services the law says you can get.”

Click the Medicare logo to learn more about its resources.

Online Mayo Clinic Resources

Great resources and information.

According to U.S. News & World Report, the Mayo Clinic is ranked as number one on its Best Hospitals Honor Roll:

“It is nationally ranked in 15 adult and 7 pediatric specialties and rated high performing in 1 adult specialty and 9 procedures and conditions. It is a general medical and surgical facility. What became the Mayo Clinic was founded in 1889 in Rochester, Minnesota. The Mayo Clinic opened hospitals in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1986 and Scottsdale, Arizona, in 1987. The Mayo Clinic Health System was established in 1992 and owns 19 hospitals in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa. The Mayo Clinic School of Medicine is the teaching arm of the Mayo Clinic. The hospital’s two Rochester campuses include the Mayo Eugenio Litta Children’s Hospital. The Mayo Clinic has a large integrated transplantation program.”

All of this means that the online Mayo Clinic resources are quite valuable. Check them out.

Mayo Clinic Main Web Site

At its main Web site, the Mayo Clinic provides a lot of information. Click the image to visit the home page.

Mayo Clinic YouTube Channel

The Mayo Clinic has its own YouTube channel with numerous videos. Here is one example.

Mayo Clinic News Network

At this Web site, the Mayo Clinic:

Here is an example.

Mayo Clinic Facebook and Instagram Pages

The Mayo Clinic participates with a variety of social media, including Facebook and Instagram. Click the images to visit those pages.

Facebook

INSTAGRAM

We’re Not There Yet on Doctor-Patient Relationships

We can still do better. 🙂

Earlier this month, I gave a presentation to about 65 residents and other doctors on “Roles in Patient-Doctor Relationships: Seeing Both Sides.”

This is the sixth and final post from that talk:

Doctors’ Roles and Responsibilities (including doctor morale)
Patients’ Roles and Responsibilities (and what doctors wish patients knew)
Stages of Patient Frustration and Satisfaction
Doctor Actions Improving Patient Relationships
Patient Actions Improving Doctor Relationships
We’re Not There Yet on Doctor-Patient Relationships

Despite the progress made, as noted in the 5 posts above, there is still a ways to go in doctor-patient relationships.

Check out the charts below, which are based on four possible relationships. The optimal relationship is obviously mutuality. But the other three possibilities still exist. That needs to change. We need to have relationships be win-win!!!

Patient Actions Improving Doctor Relationships

How patients can enhance doctor relationships

Earlier this month, I gave a presentation to about 65 residents and other doctors on “Roles in Patient-Doctor Relationships: Seeing Both Sides.”

This is the fifth post:

- - Doctors’ Roles and Responsibilities (including doctor morale)
  - Patients’ Roles and Responsibilities (and what doctors wish patients knew)
  - Stages of Patient Frustration and Satisfaction
  - Doctor Actions Improving Patient Relationships
  - Patient Actions Improving Doctor Relationships
  - We’re Not There Yet on Doctor-Patient Relationships

In the doctor-patient relationship, what can patients do to enhance communications? After all, it is not all on the doctor to make the relationship work.

Check out the chart below, and these highlights from the chart:

Patients need to see doctors regularly. And not wait until it is too late. Early diagnosis is a big plus for continued good health.

Patients must always be truthful. Also, they always should come prepared (such as having a list of the prescriptions taken).

Patients should not ask for harmful medications.

Patients need to thoroughly understand treatment options and make informed decisions.

Doctor Actions Improving Patient Relationships

How doctors can enhance patient relationships

Earlier this month, I gave a presentation to about 65 residents and other doctors on “Roles in Patient-Doctor Relationships: Seeing Both Sides.”

This is the fourth post:

- - Doctors’ Roles and Responsibilities (including doctor morale)
  - Patients’ Roles and Responsibilities (and what doctors wish patients knew)
  - Stages of Patient Frustration and Satisfaction
  - Doctor Actions Improving Patient Relationships
  - Patient Actions Improving Doctor Relationships
  - We’re Not There Yet on Doctor-Patient Relationships

In the doctor-patient relationship, what can doctors do to enhance communications?

Check out the chart below, and these highlights from the chart:

Doctors need to show positive body language, such as not hanging in the doorway. This shows less respect for the patient.

Studies show that the simple act of a doctor’s sitting, makes patients feel much better. They like being on the same physical level. And they tend to believe the doctor is with them longer than he/she actually is.

Doctors should allow their patients to speak uninterrupted. Studies show that, typically, doctors interrupt patients within 11-18 seconds!!

The doctor should always leave the patient with some hope, even when a prognosis is poor.

Stages of Patient Frustration and Satisfaction

Patient scheduling dos and don’ts.

Earlier this month, I gave a presentation to about 65 residents and other doctors on “Roles in Patient-Doctor Relationships: Seeing Both Sides.”

This is the third post:

- - Doctors’ Roles and Responsibilities (including doctor morale)
  - Patients’ Roles and Responsibilities (and what doctors wish patients knew)
  - Stages of Patient Frustration and Satisfaction
  - Doctor Actions Improving Patient Relationships
  - Patient Actions Improving Doctor Relationships
  - We’re Not There Yet on Doctor-Patient Relationships

Consider this example regarding patient frustration and satisfaction. According to SCI Solutions:

“As patients become more accustomed to taking care of so many things online, such as scheduling mammograms, it’s more important than ever to provide a convenient patient experience. This infographic highlights the five stages of frustration patients experience today and the five stages of satisfaction they experience when patient access is centralized.”

Click the image for a larger version.

Doctors’ Roles and Responsibilities

See what doctors’ jobs encompass. With video.

Earlier this month, I gave a presentation to about 65 residents and other doctors at the Queens Hospital Center in Jamaica, New York. The topic? “Roles in Patient-Doctor Relationships: Seeing Both Sides”

Over the next several posts, various aspects of that talk will be highlighted:

- - Doctors’ Roles and Responsibilities (including doctor morale)
  - Patients’ Roles and Responsibilities (and what doctors wish patients knew)
  - Stages of Patient Frustration and Satisfaction
  - Doctor Actions Improving Patient Relationships
  - Patient Actions Improving Doctor Relationships
  - We’re Not There Yet on Doctor-Patient Relationships

Doctors typically have the roles and responsibilities highlighted in this image. How do YOU rate each of your doctors across these roles and responsibilities?

As patients, it is also vital for us to understand the factors that may affect our doctors’ performance. This video shows a few such factors.