Award Winning Doctor Shows You How to Enlist Your Family Into Your Health Care
Relying on family is integral to the healing process. Dr. Mark Pettus, author of the new book "The Savvy Patient: The Ultimate Advocate for Quality Health Care," shows how to talk to your family about your health and how to rely on them.
(PRWEB) November 15, 2004
"'The Savvy Patient: The Ultimate Advocate for Quality Healthcare' by Mark Pettus, M. D., helps readers to understand how to navigate complicated health care systems."
Publishers Weekly
"An incredible source of information, which in the hands of an inspired patient, will help accomplish true healing."
Bernie Siegel MD author Love, Medicine, and Miracles, and Help Me to Heal
Dulles, VA — The American health care system is an overwhelming and intimidating system to navigate. According to the National Committee for Quality Assurance’s State of Health Care Quality 2004, the health care system’s regular inability to give necessary care caused nearly 66.5 million avoidable sick days and more than $1.8 billion in excess medical costs. Dr. Mark Pettus tells patients and their families how to work together to get the best health care and create a support system in his new book "The Savvy Patient: The Ultimate Advocate for Quality Health Care."
"Few processes are as useful and effective as the family meeting to clarify and reconcile difficult health-care decisions," explains Dr. Pettus. "Family meetings are preplanned, organized gatherings that include several participants, like the patient, family members, the primary care provider, nurses, a case manager, a clergy member, or a pastoral care provider."
In "The Savvy Patient," Dr. Pettus provides 8 tips to having a successful family meeting:
1) Ask your primary care provider to arrange a time to meet with your family. If this is uncomfortable for you, ask your primary nurse, social worker, or case manager involved in your care to discuss this with your treating physician.
2) Consider whom you would want to attend the meeting. Possible attendees include select family members, pastoral care providers, nursing personnel, and important consultants.
3) All critical discussions regarding patient care should be centered on the patient. The patient should be included if possible.
4) Arrange a time that is convenient for all, especially the physician. It is important to be as flexible as possible in order to bring people together.
5) Write down your questions in advance. Consider your objectives and try to have them met during the meeting. Prepare specific questions by discussing them with family members beforehand. Sample questions are: What are the main medical problems we are confronting? What has your experience been in treating people with problems like this? Who will be covering for you while youÂ’re away?
6) Assign a person to represent the family. This will simplify communication and diminish confusion. The communication between your treating physicians, health-care team, and your family will be more efficient and accurate. Information will be channeled through key parties whom others can look to as sources of information.
7) Take notes. Write down anything that is important or may be forgotten. These can be overwhelming circumstances. It will not be possible to retain, remember, and understand all of the information you are receiving.
8) If something is not clear, ask for a more detailed explanation. Mutual understanding is a key objective of the family meeting.
Dr. Mark Pettus provides the information needed to understand the health care system in a caring and compassionate manner in "The Savvy Patient" Dr. Pettus helps you understand how to obtain the knowledge you need, communicate with health care workers, and negotiate and resolve conflicts as they come up. "The Savvy Patient" also provides question templates to guide you in acquiring the necessary information. If you ever wanted to just pick up the phone at any time of day or night and have a frank and caring talk with your doctor, "The Savvy Patient" is that conversation.
Dr. Mark Pettus graduated from Boston University in 1979 and the University of Massachusetts Medical School in 1983. He completed his graduate medical training at Harvard Medical School training programs and his nephrology fellowship at The Massachusetts General Hospital in 1988. Dr. Pettus has written medical articles in various journals and has won several academic and community awards. He hosts a community access television program called The Berkshire Health Program. Dr. Pettus lives in Pittsfield, Masschusetts and works at the Berkshire Medical Center. He is recognized for his empathetic and compassionate quality of clinical care.
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