Doctor, Your Patient Will See You Now: Gaining the Upper Hand in Your Medical Care

Steven Z. Kussin

Rowman & Littlefield, Jun 28, 2012 - Health & Fitness - 326 pages

The state of health care in this country is routinely discussed in the media, at the office, and around the kitchen table. Yet as consumers of medical care, Americans often blindly accept medical advice that may or may not be relevant or even appropriate. Doctor, Your Patient Will See You Now is meant to turn on its head the old notion that medical care is dictated by the doctors who offer advice. Today, it's all about the patients who receive it. Bias, financial incentives, and preventable medical error are common to the point of inevitability and have proven resistant to reform. Patients increasingly and correctly feel that they are on their own in a large, bewildering, impersonal, and dangerous medical system.

Offering an insider's perspective, Dr. Kussin provides the tools readers need to make informed decisions about their care, as well as the confidence to question their doctor's advice, seek out additional information, and discern the best path for their care. With this book, readers learn how to maintain a professional approach that, rather than straining the doctor-patient relationship, makes it stronger and more cooperative.

Contents

• WAR THE BATTLE OF MEDICAL EPISTEMOLOGIES: 1
• A MEDICAL DAY: 29
• Chapter 01 The Office: 31
• Chapter 02 The Hospital: 52
• Chapter 03 Medical OnCall: 80
• Chapter 04 The Emergency Room: 99
• CHOOSING YOUR DOCTOR: 113
• Introduction: 115
• Setting the Stage: 118
• Chapter 07 Brains: 122
• Chapter 08 Communication: 137
• Chapter 09 Empathy: 162
• Chapter 10 Style: 172
• Chapter 11 Second Opinions: 177
• CHOOSING YOUR HOSPITAL: 187
• Introduction: 189
• Chapter 13 Staying Local: 192
• Chapter 14 Abandon Ship: 201
• Chapter 15 Searching for Solutions: 207
• HOSPITAL DANGERS AND HOW TO PREVENT THEM: 221
• Introduction: 223
• Chapter 17 Medication Errors: 229
• Chapter 18 HospitalAcquired Infections: 240
• Chapter 19 Isolation: 254
• Best Medical Websites: 261
• Notes: 271
• Bibliography: 291
• Index: 293
• About the Author: 307

About the author

Steven Z. Kussin, M.D., is the founder of the Shared Decision Center of Central New York. He has published scholarly articles in several journals, has been in practice for more than thirty years, and has taught at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons. He has an international following on his blog MedicalAdvocate.com.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Doctor, Your Patient Will See You Now: Gaining the Upper Hand in Your Medical Care; G - Reference,Information and Interdisciplinary Subjects Series
• Author: Steven Z. Kussin
• Edition: reprint
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield, 2012
• ISBN: 1442210605, 9781442210608
• Length: 326 pages
• Subjects: Health & Fitness / Health Care Issues; Medical / General; Medical / Health Care Delivery; Medical / Health Policy; Medical / Physician & Patient