Tag: ePatients

Reliable health info from the ‘medically unqualified’?

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 7 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas   ♥   @HeartSisters

“Medical websites created by medically unqualified individuals (i.e. persons who are not physicians) are unreliable and should, de facto, be considered medically unsound. Don’t you agree?”

That’s a question that the late great Dr. Tom Ferguson said he was often  asked during his public talks and workshops. The pioneering physician, author and researcher studied and wrote about the empowered medical consumer starting in the 1970s – a time when most people had never even heard of such an animal.

So as one of those “medically unqualified individuals” who in 2009 launched this site about women’s heart disease, I was particularly interested in Dr. Tom’s answer to that question. Here’s what he wrote:*  Continue reading “Reliable health info from the ‘medically unqualified’?” →

Why you’ll listen to me – but not to your doctor

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 15 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas   ♥  @HeartSisters

As I like to remind my women’s heart health presentation audiences, I am not a physician. I’m not a nurse. I am merely a dull-witted heart attack survivor. I also warn them that a lot of what I’m about to say to them is already available out there, likely printed on some wrinkled-up Heart and Stroke Foundation brochures stuffed into the magazine racks at their doctor’s office.

So when the organizer of one of my free upcoming WomenHeart talks at a large community centre where I speak twice a year called me to say that registration for this presentation is already full with a waiting list – and that’s with weeks still to go yet! – my interest was piqued.

As any experienced public speaker can appreciate, you’re only as good as the audience thinks you are. When a repeat event like mine fills up quickly thanks almost entirely to word-of-mouth buzz, this tells me that women attending this talk must be pretty darned motivated to learn more about how they can improve their heart health.

But meanwhile, many doctors I know lament the fact that it’s tough for them to motivate their patients to even think about lifestyle improvements to modify known heart disease risks.  Continue reading “Why you’ll listen to me – but not to your doctor” →

Your health care decisions: don’t worry your pretty little head over them

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 6 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas   ♥  @HeartSisters

My mother, like many women of her generation, would never dream of telling her doctor that she wants a second medical opinion, even if she suspected that her doctor’s treatment or advice was lacking. This means that, if he were negligent or incompetent or even downright dangerous – which he’s not, by the way –  my mother would rather die than get a second opinion. To ask for one would be rude and insulting to her physician, and that just would never happen.  Whatever her doctor says  goes unquestioned. He is the boss of her health care.

She’s not alone. Many patients choose to simply defer to their physicians, even when that physician is not providing comprehensive information about diagnosis or treatment options. As orthopedic surgeon Dr. Howard Luks described some of his colleagues:

“Time is short for doctors, they often have biases, and many assume patients don’t want the burden of overwhelming information.”

Before my own heart attack, I could have been one of those patients, too. When my doctor ordered lab tests for me, for example, I figured that if the results were bad, I would be phoned.  When I was prescribed drugs or procedures, I figured these were necessary – or my all-knowing physician wouldn’t have mentioned them to me. Otherwise, I was much too busy to think much about my medical decisions.

And now when I ask the women in my heart health audiences to raise their hands if they know their blood pressure numbers, it’s common to see at least 1/3 of the group who have absolutely no clue.  And when I ask them if they know their cholesterol numbers, the awareness level is even worse.

A survey of women over 40 done by The Federation of Medical Women of Canada (called the LIPSTICK Survey) reported that women spend more time thinking about their weight than they do about their hearts. Only 10 per cent of women surveyed, for example, knew their personal cardiac risk factors, versus 64 per cent who know how much they weighed in high school. Continue reading “Your health care decisions: don’t worry your pretty little head over them” →

What doctors really think about women who are ‘Medical Googlers’

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 30 Comments

by Carolyn Thomas    ♥   @HeartSisters

Me: “My name is Carolyn, and I’m a Medical Googler.”

You, all together now: “Hello, Carolyn!”

This will come as no surprise to any of you regular readers, but I’m just a wee bit obsessed about All Things Cardiac. From the very minute I was sent home from hospital after surviving a heart attack, I started mainlining Google like it was a drug. I became hooked. I threw myself into researching women’s heart disease in a determined attempt to figure out what the heck had just hit me. And after I had the opportunity to spend five days at Mayo Clinic in October, I became truly insufferable. Continue reading “What doctors really think about women who are ‘Medical Googlers’” →