Nicholas DiSabatino’s Post

Navigating the Doctor-Patient Relationship in the Digital Age In today’s digital landscape, patients increasingly turn to online resources for health information. However, some healthcare professionals dismiss these informed patients as "medically illiterate," a term that can be both pejorative and dismissive. Research from peer-reviewed studies, including Cochrane reviews, empowers intelligent, college-educated patients from all socioeconomic backgrounds to actively participate in their healthcare. It’s crucial for medical professionals to recognize and value this engagement rather than shutting it down. As citizen scientists contribute to our understanding of health issues, it’s vital that we foster an open dialogue between doctors and informed patients. This collaborative approach can lead to better health outcomes and greater patient satisfaction. Rather than viewing patients' research as a challenge, let’s embrace it as an opportunity to enhance communication and trust. By promoting health literacy and respecting the knowledge that patients bring to the table, we can transform the doctor-patient relationship into a partnership that benefits everyone. Let’s work together to create a healthcare environment that values informed dialogue, respect, and collaboration! #Healthcare #PatientEngagement #HealthLiteracy #MedicalProfessionals #CitizenScience #Collaboration #DigitalHealth

Every American has the power to shape the future of healthcare. Currently, only 5% of adults in the U.S. participate in clinical research, leaving a vast opportunity for more voices to be heard and more lives to be improved. Your participation in clinical research isn't just a number – it's a chance to make history. Whether you're managing a health condition or in perfect health, your involvement matters. By joining a study, you become a pioneer in medical advancement, potentially helping millions. Remember, health outcomes are not predetermined by any single factor. Through informed choices, proactive care, and participation in research, each of us has the power to influence our own health and contribute to the well-being of all Americans. Let's turn that 5% into a movement. Your decision to participate could be the key to the next big medical breakthrough. Will you be part of the change? #ClinicalResearchMatters #BeAMedicalPioneer #HealthcareHeroes #YourHealthYourChoice #ResearchImpact #MedicalBreakthrough #PatientPower #HealthInnovation

When patients seek a new diagnosis, they often face an overwhelming amount of information that's hard to process. Research shows that asking questions during appointments can improve patient's understanding, treatment adherence, and health outcomes. But with so many questions out there, how do we know which are the right ones to ask? I had the privilege of leading this paper focused on identifying the questions patients are recommended to ask throughout their diagnostic journey—from their first encounter with the healthcare system to testing and treatment planning. While not surprising, the findings highlight the disconnect between the current recommendations (e.g., patients asking 100 questions in an appointment and challenging provider assumptions) and what is realistic (e.g., appointment time constraints and lack of psychological safety for patients to speak up and ask the hard questions). This project was especially meaningful to me, as it aligns with my core research interest: exploring how patient-care team communication impacts patient safety, specifically diagnostic safety. I look forward to the next steps in this work and will keep you all updated as we go. Thanks to the amazing team that worked on this with me and to Kelly Smith for mentoring me throughout the project. 😊 Helen Haskell Bill Gallagher Kelley Baker Kristen Miller Kimia Sedig #PatientSafety #Diagnosis #Healthcare #MedicalResearch #CommunicationInHealthcare #HealthcareInnovation

Sick of outdated tools and frustrating research methods? We hear you! At SMS Clinical Research, we're all about cutting-edge science and a dedicated team that's passionate about making a real difference. Joining our clinical research team means you'll have top-of-the-line technology and the latest scientific advancements at your fingertips. Call for more details! #BeAPartOfTheSolution #Mesquite #SMSClinicalResearch #HealthyLiving #ClinicalTrial #PatientCare #MedicalResearch #ClinicalTrials #Covid19 #HealthScience #ResearchTrial #PatientCare #HealthCare #Treatment #Eczema

Valuable discussion with lawmakers, government officials, and experts at POLITICO's Transforming Health Care event this week on policy solutions to expand access to innovative therapies and digital health technologies. 🏥 Digital health and medical diagnostics were in the spotlight as innovations that could meet urgent needs for a healthcare system facing staffing shortages, a burnout epidemic, growing access gaps, and rising costs as demand grows. 🏥 "The user interface should be a priority for development of digital health tools. Ease of access and ease of use are all factors in promoting adoption and addressing health disparities with these innovations." 🏥 AI in healthcare was a hot topic as panels weighed regulations to ensure patient safety and privacy while supporting health system ability to adopt the technology to alleviate administrative burden and improve outcomes 🏥 Several sessions focused discussion on reimbursement reform, the need to rework Medicare Advantage (MA) quality ratings, and how payment systems can be improved to keep up with innovations. 🏥 "I try to be more prudent" in using diagnostic imaging to treat patients, because it's not covered like other medical options. "We're well aware patients must pay out of pocket...new tech is "not cheap..." 🏥 Panelists, including U.S. Rep. Ami Bera, MD considered how government incentives could support medtech innovation and advancement of digital health to expand access and advance health equity. Good insights from Paul Blanchfield, Lantheus, Susan Coller Monarez, Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), Dartmouth Health, and Alexander Ding, MD, MBA. #POLITICOHealth #digitalhealth #diagnostics #healthtech #medtech #healthcarepolicy #healthcareregulation #healthcareinnovation

Value-based care has been the buzz word in healthcare system reform. It defines value as health outcomes per unit of costs and has the overarching goal creating value for patients. Concurrently, precision medicine, AI and other state-of-the-art scientific advances have been touted to bring healthcare to unprecedented heights. Yet, patients are dissatisfied, and physicians are disenchanted and burned out. Perhaps what policymakers and healthcare providers forget is that what patients value may be completely different from what the system determines as value. In this upcoming workshop, a personal favourite amongst many we've crafted over years of collaboration, my colleagues and I will explore how we as clinicians may collaboratively work with our patients to explore their personal values, spirituality, worldviews - how they make sense of their illness and make choices - to determine what they truly value in their care and bridge the growing chasm between the patient and provider. Thoughtful consideration of the additional 's' for spirituality to transform value-based care into values-based care has the potential to create much more shared value for patients, providers and the system alike. #medicalhumanities #personcenteredcare #spirituality #worldview #values #healthcare #mentalwellness

The transition from clinical medicine to health tech is more accessible than you think! 🌟 Dr Aaron Smith will share his journey and key strategies for navigating this career path in tomorrow’s Mind the Bleep webinar. Register here to join the discussion: https://buff.ly/3TmyVIW #HealthTech #MedTech #DigitalHealth #CareerAdvice

HEART OF THE MATTER: Innovation takes place in all spheres of healthcare. In this particular example, scientists are looking to create digital versions of our hearts in order to improve predictive and preventative medicine. Not only would this technology improve wellbeing and save countless lives, it could help reduce the UK's public healthcare bill. According to latest annual figures from the Office for National Statistics, healthcare expenditure in the UK in 2021 was £280.7 billion, equating to £4,188 per person. Spending on preventive care was £35.1 billion, more than doubling from 2020 because of the government response to the pandemic. There are 7.6 million people in the UK with heart and circulatory diseases in the UK, with 175,000 deaths annually, according to a factsheet from the British Heart Foundation. #healthcare #heart #innovation

WVU Medicine Among America’s Most Innovative Companies for 2024! On March 26, Fortune released its 2024 list of America's Most Innovative Companies, and it includes a number of hospitals and health systems, including WVU Medicine, which ranked No. 63 on the list overall and at No. 6 when you look at just health systems. WVU Medicine is moving in an upward direction, as the Health System placed No. 90 overall and No. 8 for health systems on the 2023 list. The WVU Health System is in good company; other health systems in the top 10 include: Mayo Clinic (Rochester, Minn.), Houston Methodist, Cleveland Clinic, Mass General Brigham (Boston), Cincinnati Children’s, University of Kansas Health System (Kansas City, Kan.), Duke University Health System (Durham, N.C.), Henry Ford Health System (Detroit), and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Read the Becker’s Hospital Review article to learn more. https://bit.ly/3xhRG8i

The Inner Place From Where We Operate Many wonderful people are doing important work in transforming the landscape of health care in a way that more fully appreciates the experience of the patient. This transition will come with new ways of doing things that are still being defined, tested, and explored. I would contend that like any powerful transition, it must also contend with new ways of being. One of the hallmark’s of the patient revolution is that we are expanding our view of patient from object to subject – honoring that below the surface of our highly measured outputs there is an unseen, interior landscape that is informing the experience of the patient. The potential hazard is that we try to reduce this highly subjective experience into an objective process, re-enacting old and predictable ways of doing things under the guise of change. Being a patient is a new language in health care that will require a new faculty of sensing and knowing. It will not be solely reducible to processes and procedures as has been health care’s modern, industrial instinct. For health care stakeholders to really embrace the future, they will need to step more fully into the experience of being a patient. They will be asked to attune to their own sense of aliveness and the fragility that accompanies that experience. This will require curiosity, creativity, and openness that one nurtures through attuning to our selves and others – suspending our habits of judgment and compartmentalization and seeing with fresh eyes. At @PeopleBeforePatients, we will be stewarding this process of deepening our understanding of the patient experience starting this Fall and progressively inviting this within organizations that want to architect a brighter and bolder future for health care. This is an open invitation to join us.