3 articles worth your time

Here are three articles spinning around in my head today:

A Letter to Patients With Chronic Disease – written by Rob Lamberts, MD, in 2010, tweeted this morning by Ronan Kavanagh, MD. Key quote:

“So when you approach a doctor – especially one you’ve never met before – you come with a knowledge of your disease that they don’t have, and a knowledge of the doctor’s limitations that few other patients have.  You see why you scare doctors?  It’s not your fault that you do, but ignoring this fact will limit the help you can only get from them.”

I lived my “What If…” by Erin Keeley Moore. Key quote:

“Because I had been tracking his health so closely, because they were able to access his previous test results, because I felt empowered enough to speak up and express my perspective and desired course of action, and because I had given them the evidence to trust me, we found a mutually agreed upon solution that saved us two weeks in the hospital.”

Using Online Health Communities to Deliver Patient-Centered Care to People With Chronic Conditions by Martijn van der Eijk, et al. Key quote:

“Contrary to some perceptions, patient-centeredness is not just about being nice to patients, but engaging them to become active participants in their care…

[Online Health Communities] are a powerful tool to address some of the challenges chronic care faces today. A challenge now is to perform an in-depth evaluation of our platform, which is simultaneously being designed, developed, and deployed.”

If you’ve got time to take a look at any of these, what do you think? What has caught your eye or imagination this week? Please share in the comments.