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Channel: caregivers | Danny van Leeuwen Health Hats
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Adjusting to new chronic illness

Adjusting to new chronic illness involves moving away from traditional medical/doctors/health care system to controlling controllable stress and recalibrating function.  “Eventually, you adjust to a...

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What is Health Data? An Introduction for Anyone

I took a week off.  I unplugged to attend the memorial service for my mom. Thanks to readers who inquired about my absence, worried if I was OK.  I’m OK. This is the second in a series of posts about...

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What Data Isn’t. It’s not hope. It’s not getting better or worse.

Data is not health and wellbeing. It’s not getting better or worse.  It’s not hope. It’s not trust. It’s not kindness.  It’s not community. It’s not peace. It’s not …… Data is at least once removed....

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Caregiver recovery – spiritual, then mental, then physical

I took advantage of some rest and relaxation this weekend at Kripalu Meditation and Yoga Center. After six months of intense caregiving of my mom with frequent bi-coastal travel, I’m feeling an upsurge...

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Grief Subsides, Inch by Inch

I’m reading Scott Simon’s book, Unforgettable. A son, a mother, lessons of a lifetime. Beautifully written and so close to home. Scott Simon’s book resonates for me. It’s been four months since my mom...

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The procedure wasn’t successful, but the experience was

I went to Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston Friday for an outpatient invasive procedure. Pretty amazing. A well oiled production, well-informed, with amazing service. Upon arrival my wife...

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Managing Uncertainty – A Magic Lever for Best Health

People at the center of care (individuals, caregivers, family networks, and healthcare professionals) crave knowledge to make sense of and make decisions about their health journey. We need information...

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Uncertainty and Comparative Effectiveness Research

Last week’s post  began a discussion of managing uncertainty in the health journey. That journey has many decision points. We can make some of those decisions ourselves and we can rely on others to...

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Pausing – A Magic Lever of Best Health

Yesterday, my wife took me to Boston Improv for my birthday. My daughter-in-law took me out for lunch. This week I found myself spacing out several times at my desk.  I listened to the rhythms of...

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Push, push

My wife waits to tell me about something she wants us to do or buy, because I’ll just do it or buy it. Bam, bam. I’m a doer.  Push, push.  About 20 years ago I realized that the biggest stress for my...

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The jumble of research

Next week, I’ll be attending PCORI’s (Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute) Communication and Dissemination Advisory Team meeting in DC. Research is ink on paper until people at the center and...

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Another threshold

My long-time friend, Glen, died last week. The first thing Glen and I  did together in Detroit, 1969 was to go into elevators and face the back to freak people out and then we got stoned. Glen helped...

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I thank you God for this most amazing day

I thank you God for this most amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, and for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is yes. e.e. cummings An...

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What’s the Problem with the Experience of People at the Center of Care?

Wearing my many hats: e-patient, caregiver, nurse, informaticist, and leader, I am blessed with mostly positive experiences on my health journey.  At worst, my experiences are seriously annoying. This...

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Improving experience – decoupling a moving train?

I’m puzzled when people rate highly (very satisfied or satisfied) their experience in clinics and hospitals while still complaining about the experience. What is in the overall rating (would...

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Amateurs Among Professionals

I play in an amateur blues funk combo. Yesterday we had a gig at a local Jazz club. Hear it here. We played in a lineup of 9 amateur community bands,  each led by a professional musician. An...

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Medical Residents and Safety

Listening to an article on Morning Edition this week, Is It Safe for Medical Residents to Work 30-Hour Shifts? A study has begun randomly putting some residents in 30 hour shifts and others in 16 hour...

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Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROM)

When I first heard about Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROM) I thought they were talking about pulse, blood pressure, weight, pain, anxiety. I didn’t start exploring further until 2012 when I was...

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Last Post, New Year

Last post of 2015. Reviewing the year in 51 blog posts, we discussed: Death and Dying Give Me My Dam Data Values Leadership Work/Life balance Grace Ignorance, Uncertainty, Research Music Caregivers...

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Presidential Candidates on #Healthcare?

How do I research presidential candidate views on healthcare? What if I google each candidate’s web site? Donald Trump has a Positions page on reforming the VA Medical System. Much hyperbole, but he...

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