YOU The Smart Patient[horizontal ellipsis]An Insider's Handbook for Getting the Best Treatment, by Michael F. Roizen, MD, and Mehment C. Oz, MD, with the Joint Commission and the Joint Commission Resources. New York, Free Press, 2006. 412 pages, soft cover, $14.95.
This book is clearly directed toward patients and their caregivers, although I think anyone in the field of healthcare will find this enjoyable and interesting reading. How the authors arrived at the title pretty much explains how well they can take complex topics and drill them down to a few words and words everyone can understand. As physicians, they noticed a change in patients over the years. In their practice, they met up with 2 kinds of patients. Those who saw them as gods of sort and would do whatever the doctors asked them to do. And then there are patients who ask questions and challenge the doctors, who participated actively in the detective modus operandi of solving healthcare problems. At the end of the day, they would refer to the latter patients with the highly scientific term: Smart Patients. Smart patients not only ask a lot of questions. In the last 10 years, this has been enhanced with the birth of the Internet. They do searches. And instead of "What should I do?" they ask, "Do you think I should?"
The book actually starts with a 40-item questionnaire to test your ability to be a smart patient. While the answers may not surprise a good nurse, it may surprise you about what patients know and do not know. The book then goes into its 10 chapters, followed by the appendices:
1. Getting to Know You (The Juicy Secrets About Who Controls Your Health - You)
2. Finding Dr. Right (How to Find That Gem of a Doctor Who'll Make Your Life Easier and Longer)
3. Let's Play Operation (Insider Tips You'll Need to Safely Sail Through Surgery)
4. Prescription Drugs
5. How to Case a Hospital
6. Have a Happily Humdrum Hospital Stay
7. Why You Should Always Get a Second Opinion
8. Just What Gives You the Right?
9. Considering the Alternatives
10. Take Control of Your Health Insurance
11. Appendices on Medical Jargon, Sample Forms, Living Wills, Power of Attorney, and DNRs
Why should nurse leaders read this book? First of all, these 2 physicians have major exposure to consumers who in turn are reading their books. What patients are reading is of concern to nurses. Secondly, Nursing is the most trusted profession according to the annual Gallop Poll, so your neighbors and family will be reading this and asking you if it is correct. In fact the authors refer smart patients to nurses in several places. For example, they highly recommend emergency department nurse managers as a source of information on who the good doctors are. They even tell the reader how to find the emergency department nurse manager. And finally, when nurses become consumers of healthcare either themselves or through their family, having a simple guideline for questions asked and answered is not a bad idea. Think, what if you are the patient and your spouse, not a nurse, is your advocate. Have a copy of the book handy for your family. The Joint Commission was smart enough to connect with these physicians. Perhaps one of our better nursing writers will connect with them as well.