Being Your Own Health Advocate!

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Old 02-18-2015, 11:28 AM
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My wife and I are our health advocates, including for each other. It's important to do some online research and then discuss with the doc. Knowing that online information is "general" and does not apply to specific cases, we use it as a starting point for our discussions. If you don't ask the questions, or question the treatment you are giving up control....not something either of us want to do. Of course the downside is that if you refuse to see a recommended specialist, not follow the docs plan of treatment.....when things go south you don't get a do over.
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Old 03-13-2015, 09:20 PM
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Thank you, 2BNTV, for starting this thread. I have been a certified Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse for a long time. I have some specific med/surg background also. I love to teach patients, help guide them and educate them about their options. But my main enjoyment in nursing is being a patient advocate.

I so love what many of you said. Notably:

"Never leave a family member alone in the hospital. RN's save lives but they are exhausted (know that firsthand). Patients in pain or experiencing stress are not able to use their best judgment".
"Keep an ongoing health care/medical notebook. Write everything in it".
"Staff are nice but they don't have as much at stake". You ARE a good guy, Bizdoc!! JUST KEEP SWIMMING! Love it.
"If you decide not to have . . . you have to live without the knowledge of your innards". Great one, Graciegirl.
Wandatime: Good thing Sheldon had you to advocate and watch over him. "Nurses and doctors make mistakes, they are tired and overworked".
And the best one: JoMar said, "When things go south - you don't get a DO-OVER!"

I have always wanted to be a nurse consultant and have searched my soul for a few years over what kind of consulting would please me the most. And this thread validates my thoughts and hunches.

I'd like to know if y'all think there is a market in TV for a nurse advocate/consultant? A professional advocate to be at the bedside, monitor medications for interactions, research and educate her patient, step in and advocate as a son/daughter would if they could only be there.

We Americans spend lots of time and energy - and money - buying a big screen TV or new car or building a house. We need to devote as much or more of our energies to our health, or lack of it, and only then will we be proactive health care consumers.

What do you think? I'd love some feedback!
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Old 03-13-2015, 09:40 PM
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Jerseygirl08 -- YES! YES! YES! PLEASE!
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Old 03-14-2015, 08:07 AM
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There are many who would benefit from your services. I know of one other patient advocate who frequents TOTV. It could be of benefit to both of you, and all of us, if you two connected.
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Old 03-14-2015, 08:38 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jerseygirl08 View Post
Thank you, 2BNTV, for starting this thread. I have been a certified Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse for a long time. I have some specific med/surg background also. I love to teach patients, help guide them and educate them about their options. But my main enjoyment in nursing is being a patient advocate.

I so love what many of you said. Notably:

"Never leave a family member alone in the hospital. RN's save lives but they are exhausted (know that firsthand). Patients in pain or experiencing stress are not able to use their best judgment".
"Keep an ongoing health care/medical notebook. Write everything in it".
"Staff are nice but they don't have as much at stake". You ARE a good guy, Bizdoc!! JUST KEEP SWIMMING! Love it.
"If you decide not to have . . . you have to live without the knowledge of your innards". Great one, Graciegirl.
Wandatime: Good thing Sheldon had you to advocate and watch over him. "Nurses and doctors make mistakes, they are tired and overworked".
And the best one: JoMar said, "When things go south - you don't get a DO-OVER!"

I have always wanted to be a nurse consultant and have searched my soul for a few years over what kind of consulting would please me the most. And this thread validates my thoughts and hunches.

I'd like to know if y'all think there is a market in TV for a nurse advocate/consultant? A professional advocate to be at the bedside, monitor medications for interactions, research and educate her patient, step in and advocate as a son/daughter would if they could only be there.



We Americans spend lots of time and energy - and money - buying a big screen TV or new car or building a house. We need to devote as much or more of our energies to our health, or lack of it, and only then will we be proactive health care consumers.

What do you think? I'd love some feedback!

I think the answer to your question is yes. It certainly would be a noble calling. But also, you would need to be paid and to be aware of and prepared for issues that could/would most certainly arise.

For a long time, I have thought this would be an excellent thing for retired nurses to do. Highly experienced nurses can get to the point where the physical demands of patient care become impossible or ridiculous. (NPR recently did a series on back problems resulting from lifting patients because hospitals will not spring for that thing -- can't remember what it is called -- that will assist in the lifting.)

Also, good nurses can get pretty fed up with the demands of understaffed hospitals. They can feel like it is not possible to do the job they want to do because they are required to do things that they should not be doing.

And also, let's admit it. Women born early in the baby boom and called to the medical profession mostly became nurses. Born later in that big boom, they might have become doctors. There is a lot of knowledge out there in that ageing boomer population. (I bet there are some lovely, hard-earned, nurses' caps sitting up high on closet shelves right here in The Villages.)

Well, it looks like I got up on my soapbox again when all I intended to do was pass along some information which I think might give you a good starting point in finding out what it would take to do the kind of work you are thinking about now.

This is a link to an organization, The Alliance of Professional Health Advocates. You will see that there is membership information, but there is also a lot of information you can get to without being a member. There are bloggers connected to the site and bibliographies that will take you to books that might help. -- Lots of paths to more knowledge about what you are thinking of doing.

Here's the link that can get you started maybe.

Homepage - The Alliance of Professional Health Advocates


I wish you the best.

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  #21  
Old 03-14-2015, 08:46 AM
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Well said Laurie.
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Old 03-14-2015, 12:08 PM
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Wow, sounds like a resounding YES to the question about a need in TV for nurses as patient advocates.

Thanks Laurie2 for the reference. I think I've been on that site before but I'll go back on there again. Thanks.

Yes, nurses have been beat up over the years. Many retire with back problems, anxiety due to job/life stresses, knee problems, etc. Nursing has turned into a business of dollars rather than patients. We are no longer encouraged to be compassionate, rather . . . cost effective. We have become human capital in a corporate environment. I don't like it, not many nurses who do like it, only the ones who enjoy working overtime, 50-60 hrs. a week - for the money! The corporate managers would be the first ones to throw you under the bus should you make a mistake (give the wrong meds, for example) related to exhaustion.

Anyway, enough of that. I refuse to be negative - I have choices!!!!!!!

dbussone, would you mind PM'ing me the name of the person in TV who works as a patient advocate, if you have it. I actually wouldn't mind teaming up with someone. Or at best, we could help each other work better. Thanks.


Would still love to hear from others on this subject of marketability of a nurse patient advocate. And yes, Laurie2, there would be some "issues" to be prepared for should I venture out on my own; professional liability insurance (have it), advanced CPR training (have it), business plan (working on it), many hugs and smiles to go around (still have them!!). Thank you.
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Old 03-14-2015, 12:13 PM
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Good poll....while I have several health issues and visit doctors to monitor and/or treat them I feel that I need to be my own advocate. I try to educate myself as much as possible re: my issues and the medications (if any) that I should take for them.

This may open a "can of worms" but I don't take statin drugs though my primary tries to encourage me to take them and prescribes them. Fortunately for me my meds are mail-order so I tell those folks not to send the statins to me. You can do your own research on these particular drugs and the side-effects that come from them. At any rate...I try to find practitioners who aren't "dictators" but work with me as on a team approach. Any others I will "fire"...we hire them and not the other way around.
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Old 03-14-2015, 03:13 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jerseygirl08 View Post
Thank you, 2BNTV, for starting this thread. I have been a certified Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse for a long time. I have some specific med/surg background also. I love to teach patients, help guide them and educate them about their options. But my main enjoyment in nursing is being a patient advocate.

I so love what many of you said. Notably:

"Never leave a family member alone in the hospital. RN's save lives but they are exhausted (know that firsthand). Patients in pain or experiencing stress are not able to use their best judgment".
"Keep an ongoing health care/medical notebook. Write everything in it".
"Staff are nice but they don't have as much at stake". You ARE a good guy, Bizdoc!! JUST KEEP SWIMMING! Love it.
"If you decide not to have . . . you have to live without the knowledge of your innards". Great one, Graciegirl.
Wandatime: Good thing Sheldon had you to advocate and watch over him. "Nurses and doctors make mistakes, they are tired and overworked".
And the best one: JoMar said, "When things go south - you don't get a DO-OVER!"

I have always wanted to be a nurse consultant and have searched my soul for a few years over what kind of consulting would please me the most. And this thread validates my thoughts and hunches.

I'd like to know if y'all think there is a market in TV for a nurse advocate/consultant? A professional advocate to be at the bedside, monitor medications for interactions, research and educate her patient, step in and advocate as a son/daughter would if they could only be there.

We Americans spend lots of time and energy - and money - buying a big screen TV or new car or building a house. We need to devote as much or more of our energies to our health, or lack of it, and only then will we be proactive health care consumers.

What do you think? I'd love some feedback!
For many with no children or siblings, or with families that live elsewhere, I think a paid Patient Advocate would be a godsend.

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  #25  
Old 03-15-2015, 08:16 PM
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Yes NutGolfer, good for you - that you are informed and do your own research so that you can be at the center of your decision making for your healthcare issues. Statins definitely come with a boatload of problems. For instance, my brother took them and wound up with a ruptured deltoid muscle. Statins weaken tendons. End of that soapbox.

I am amazed at the amount of people I meet who just do whatever their provider tells them to do . . . no questions asked, they just seem to trust the provider and go from there. Many people don't even suspect they are having problems because of the side effects of medications, for example. Or, some people don't understand how important it is to take care of things before they become problematic, life threatening even.

But, I understand totally. I'm that way about . . . many things. Don't want to know, trust the professional. Well, a few things!!!

Thank you Laurie2 for mentioning the Alliance of Professional Health Advocates website. I re-visited it and ordered a book from it. Great site.

Let's keep this going, I'd like to hear more folks opinions on the matter of hiring a Health Advocate - to assist with navigating through the murky scary waters of complexities in healthcare decisions.
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