Patient blogs are often very interesting and revealing. The give us the chance to understand how the person behind the label "patient number X" really feels.It can be rather surprising for many physicians to realize that patients analyze their doctor through the small talk the same way the doctors do.
It is a two way street though: patients reading medical blogs are surprised to find that there is much more behind the "lab coat" than a well-memorized textbook.
Several years ago, the medical journal Lancet featured a series of disease descriptions through the patients' eyes.
No matter how exhausted medical residents feel during the never ending night calls, most of them realize than the things are always worse on the colder side of the stethoscope (where the patient is).
These are several patient blogs that I found recently:
- Amy Tenderich of DiabetesMine.com has been invited to join a trial of a new inhaled insulin, and is weighing the pros and cons.
- Joe lives with ALS and shares his daily thoughts.
- A patient blogs about his experience with LASIK eye surgery: "Having just come back from having the procedure done, I've chronicled the whole thing beginning to end. For those who are apprehensive of having this done, this may be an informative read." The story was posted on Digg.com and the comments are not less interesting than the patient's blog itself.
Related:
Lasik Surgery: When the Fine Print Applies to You. NYTimes, 03/2008.
- Podcast of an open heart surgery patient. A 64-year-old man tells his story about having AFib, going through DC cardioversion and a mitral valve repair. And it is all true - you can see the healing scar from the open heart surgery.
Image source:
Top image source: Stock.xchng
"Veni Vidi Vici" image used with permission: ekgwatch.com
Updated: 03/12/2008
Excellent summary. We are in the very early days of using these new tools to transform the medical care: Open Medicine: Cleveland Clinic Gets It
ReplyDeleteAnd don't forget the difficult patients . . . ;o)
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