Month: May 2014
Paying patients for their expertise
Thanks to the work of organizations like the Society for Participatory Medicine and patient advocates like e-patient Dave, the voice of the patient is being heard. And I’ve written before about organizations like the ImproveCareNow network where patients and families are treated as equal partners in quality improvement efforts.
I love that patients and families are being recognized for their expertise and that healthcare organizations are starting to involve patients as team members from the beginning of projects. I also love that organizations like PCORI (Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute) are recognizing the importance of asking patients the research questions and outcomes that are most important to them.
So this is all really good, right? Yes, but…
The dark side of bacteria
Bacteria are our friends…but not all the time.
While I believe that we need to keep the bacteria in our bodies happy and that the improved cleanliness of modern life may be causing problems, there is also no question that bacteria are our enemies as well. You don’t have to look very far to see examples of how bacteria can cause serious illness or even death – meningococal meningitis, pneumococcal pneumonia, salmonella and tuberculosis to name a few. In most cases, antibiotics are required to treat these infections (or vaccines to prevent the infections).