Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/856453
40 40 CEO/STRATEGY 35 Ways to Positively Affect Healthcare By Brooke Murphy D ifficult, ongoing political debates about healthcare can make people feel pow- erless to affect change. Fortunately, there are many things people can do to make a difference. Becker's tapped 10 industry leaders for 35 ideas on how patients, physicians, hospital leaders and policymakers can take action and positive- ly contribute to healthcare today. Submissions are organized in alphabetical order. Things individuals can do today. Danielle Mitchell, MD, Candidate for Ten- nessee's 3rd Congressional District. 1. See a doctor! e first way to improve health- care outcomes is by visiting a doctor and team- ing up with someone who is truly interested in your well-being and will advocate for you. e ACA allows people to access these exact pre- ventative services, as well as acute care services. Preventing the crisis before it happens is the heart of positive healthcare outcomes and also reduces the economic and financial impacts our nation currently faces. 2. See a doctor who is invested in true preven- tion. True prevention should have a founda- tion in reducing the consumption of processed foods, exercising regularly and investing in emotional well-being and sleep! With these four things in check, the burden of illness is oen re- duced and even avoided altogether. 3. Advocate for a system in our nation that gives everyone the opportunity to access healthcare. is can be achieved by electing government of- ficials who are trained to care for you. David Meltzer, MD, PhD, Director of the Center for Health and the Social Sciences and Affiliated Faculty in the Department of Economics and the Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago. 4. When patients are getting care from a large number of doctors, they need to make sure they have a captain of the team. Find someone who is really going to take the lead in helping them coordinate their care and making sense of all the information, decisions and interven- tions coming in from many doctors. One of the biggest problems we have right now is a healthcare system that is wildly fragmented. Oen the sickest people are getting their care from many doctors who don't understand all the aspects of the patient's problems and what the other doctors involved are doing. Try to find a doctor, oen a generalist or at least a specialist, who is willing to function as a hub to help them bring it all together. Rebecca Parker, MD, President of the Ameri- can College of Emergency Physicians. 5. Volunteer with your local hospital. ey need greeters, fundraisers, health fair workers, clothes for homeless, toys for kids and overall advocates. If you don't have time to volunteer, donate dollars. Most hospitals run on razor thin margins. Any help is much appreciated. 6. Learn CPR and first aid. It will save lives. 7. Understand your health insurance and ask your insurer questions. You're paying premi- ums; they should provide great coverage for primary care, emergency care and specialist care. Ask. 8. Realize that, in emergency departments, we must triage carefully during the busiest times. Sometimes there are ambulances coming in or leaving that you won't see. Also, if you start to feel worse, let your triage nurse know. Triage is the process of continual evaluation. Peter Pronovost, MD, PhD, Senior Vice Pres- ident for Safety and Quality, Johns Hopkins Medicine (Baltimore). 9. It's critically important you make sure to speak out when you have concerns. When you look at the bad things that happen in hospitals, in more than 90 percent of cases somebody knew something was wrong and didn't speak out or wasn't listened to. Patients have wisdom about their bodies that clinicians don't. Too of- ten in medicine, we think the only domain of wisdom is how many years of experience you have in the field. But patients' experiential wis- dom from living with the disease is oen more important. 10. Get a second opinion for any concerning diagnosis or treatment plan. We know now di- agnostic errors are one of the major causes of preventable harm. e science of how to mea- sure them and reduce them is still immature. One practical thing to do is to get a second opinion. And if your physician is reluctant for you to get a second opinion, that would be a red flag. 11. If you're going to have a procedure, find out how many the physician and the hospital per- form annually. ere is overwhelming evidence that for virtually every procedure, the more you do the better the outcome. If your hospital or doctor does one or two or three of something, especially if it is high-risk, I would be cautious about having your procedure there. 12. If you're going to have a major procedure, find out if your ICU is staffed by critical care physicians. e Leapfrog website provides this information. Your risk of dying if you're having high-risk surgery in the ICU is about 30 per- cent lower if you are treated by an intensivist, in addition to your surgical team, rather than just your surgical team. Many patients don't even think to ask that. 13. Find out the hospital's ICU catheter infec- tion rate. ese infections used to kill more people than breast or prostate cancer. Years ago, we led a national effort [to raise catheter infection awareness], and now these infections are down by 80 percent across the U.S. And ev- ery type of hospital is able to do this, but some don't. What it takes to reduce these infections is showing you have a good quality management program because it requires leadership, declar- ing goals, a quality improvement infrastruc- ture, accountability and transparency. Even if you're not worried about that type of infection, it's a "canary in the coal mine" measure — if a hospital has a low catheter infection rate, it's a signal they've got a good quality program. 14. If you're leaving your health interaction, whether that's a hospital or a physician's office, make sure you're comfortable with your fol- low-up plan. Before you leave, do a teach back or read back in your own words aer listening to the doctor and explain your disease to them to confirm you understand it, explain your med- ication schedule, explain your follow-up plan. Things hospital leaders and physicians can do. Bradley Hall, MD, President of the Federa- tion of State Physician Health Programs. 16. Connect with your state's Physician Health Program. Almost every state in the U.S. has established Physician Health Programs. Such programs are based upon the concept that healthy physicians give the best and safest care. A PHP is a confidential resource for physicians and other licensed healthcare professionals suffering from addictive, psychiatric, medical, behavioral or other potentially impairing con- ditions. 17. Familiarize yourself with the PHP educa- tion and resources. One of the most important activities of a PHP is to educate physicians, healthcare administrators, hospitals and med- ical students regarding the prevention, early identification and treatment of addiction and other illnesses affecting physicians. Contact your PHP to gather resources for your medical staff. Many PHPs offer free or reasonable edu- cation about mental health issues that trouble physicians, including mood disorders, sub- stance use disorders, burnout and work-life balance.