The Thinking Patient: Empowering Patient-Physician Communication for Better Health with Dana Sherwin

Older Women & Friends

How did your recent doctor's appointment go? Did you get the care you needed? Were all your questions answered? Did you feel as if you were a valued patient whose health mattered?

If you're like many patients--often older women--the answer to some of these questions is "No!". Everything was rushed. You were in and out too quickly—the time you spent jotting down questions before your appointment seemed like a waste. What was the point if you left the doctor's office confused, frustrated, and angry?

After an episode of "Older Women & Friends" about breast cancer, one about problems associated with the pelvic floor, and other health-related episodes scheduled for the future, I felt it important to have a guest who could help define the steps all of us can take to communicate with doctors and get the care and respect we deserve. We know ourselves and our history better than anyone. It's key that we understand how to share that information and to advocate for ourselves.

Dana Sherwin was a top hospital administrator for thirty-five years. But when she was diagnosed with a rare blood disease, she made the difficult decision to leave her profession. Her cancer treatment included chemo and, eventually, a bone marrow transplant. She was in the hospital for five weeks and spent many more in her recovery.

Along the way, she paid close attention to the care she received. She began to figure out what made a doctor-patient relationship work well and what did not. She admits that she made mistakes along the way and decided to develop the steps for patients of all stripes and health issues and, for that matter, regularly scheduled appointments, that help get the best medical care. "The Thinking Patients" is the result.

There are five important steps that Dana suggests and that she details in this episode:

• Preparation
• Language
• Questions
• Participation
• Courage
• 
  

Dana is a five-year cancer survivor and credits her doctors and her self-advocation. She is grateful for the opportunity to help others become "thinking patients."

https://www.linkedin.com/in/desherwin/