Blog Topic: Patient Care

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  LGBT Health Panel Challenges Diverse Audience to ‘Be the Champion’

  April 04, 2018

  “No matter what field you’re in, be the champion,” Allison Myers, MD, MPH, said. “LGBT care is still relatively new and you can be the champion within your realm for patients. Be an advocate and when you see an unmet need, try to make it happen.”

  LGBT Diversity Community Patient Care
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  Health System Collegiality Inspires Outpatient Treatment for Heart Failure

  February 14, 2018

  In an effort to answer that question, CCH launched an Outpatient Diuretic Program in November 2017. “This outpatient treatment solution was introduced to help prevent hospital readmissions and to also keep patients in their own environment while recovering.”

  Heart Month Cardiology Heart Patient Care
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  WhatsApp is Changing Dermatology Care in Botswana

  January 12, 2018

  Innovation in health care doesn’t always have to mean new or expensive. It’s often the smart repurposing of something – “frugal innovations” that have a long history in low-resource settings. A recent example that has been flying under the radar in Botswana is the use of the smartphone application WhatsApp.

  Dermatology Global Medicine Patient Care
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  Building Bridges: Giggles, Smiles, and So Much More

  January 08, 2018

  Nobody likes long waits to see a doctor, but it’s especially hard for young children to “sit still and behave.” Thanks to Building Bridges, an intergenerational partnership between the Penn Memory Center and CHOP, a lot more giggles are emanating from the waiting room. Perhaps, even more important, older adults are feeling needed.

  Community Patient Care Family Medicine and Community Health Aging
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  A Deeper Look: How Data Technology is Changing Medicine

  December 01, 2017

  Data technology holds the key to unlocking “gold nuggets” of information from electronic health records and other data systems that are paving the way to earlier patient discharges, fewer readmissions, and improved outcomes. Nowhere is this more evident than at the Penn Medicine Center for Health Care Innovation.

  Health Care Quality and Safety Patient Care
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  Surviving the “Silent Killer”: How Seamless Coordination Saves Lives

  November 13, 2017

  As temperatures drop, the number of visits to emergency rooms across the country tends to spike in the opposite direction. From tumbles off of ladders while decorating and holiday baking burns, to icy falls and omnipresent flu germs, the “most wonderful time of the year” doesn’t always live up to its moniker. Yet, there’s one seasonal threat that we tend to forget about until a tragic story hits the news: carbon monoxide (CO), often dubbed the “invisible killer” or “silent killer.”

  Emergency Medicine Patient Care Public Health General Interest
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  Getting to Know You

  October 16, 2017

  Starting today, Penn Medicine hospitals in Philadelphia are asking patients to share more information in their electronic health records. For example, in addition to reporting their sex at birth, patients are now offered the opportunity to provide specific information about their gender identity and sexual orientation, as well as their ethnicity and preferred spoken and written language.

  Measures that Matter Education Patient Care
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  Training Doctors for the Hardest Talk

  September 15, 2017

  When a doctor tells a patient there are no realistic paths for curative treatment, the doctor needs to be confident about that. Yet with so many experimental therapies, promising new drugs, and clinical trials offering hope to even the sickest of patients, how can any doctor, even the best doctor, be sure?

  Patient Care
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  When I Die, Let Me Live

  June 21, 2017

  The first two-part episode of Perelman School of Medicine graduate Lauren Kelly, MD’s podcast, “When I Die, Let Me Live,” is not always an easy listen — but that’s kind of the point. Kelly aims to present the listener with firsthand stories from patients, families, and caretakers dealing with the myriad physical, mental, emotional, and moral complexities of end-of-life care.

  Aging Patient Care Patient Stories General Interest
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  The Little Care Plan That Could

  April 19, 2017

  In April of 2007, OncoLink—the first cancer information website (and still one of the largest)—launched the OncoLife™ Survivorship Care Plan, a user-generated service that creates care plans for patients who have survived cancer. As that plan marks 10 years, OncoLink’s Managing Editor, Carolyn Vachani, looks back on the program’s origins.

  Cancer Patient Care