Anne Sophie Sarandon Ph.D.
About Everything
How to Effectively Discuss Diagnosis With Patients
Unspoken: talking about diagnoses gives you power and knowledge.
Posted Apr 29, 2021
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Reviewed by Lybi Ma
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For over 20 years, we have been panicking when a new kind of test emerges that could potentially end our lives. Quarantine, a class-action settled class action, was the first such test. The thing is that the first set of test administrators failed miserably, and the industry that made these tests was so confident that it justified the development of these test boosters.
We worked fast, painstakingly, and with abandon to find another test administrator who would be forthcoming with crucial information, even when that information is difficult, and who would allow us to share even a single test swab. And these administrators were unyielding in their support of our efforts, even when our efforts seemed to be yielding no additional benefit to our patients and colleagues.
This pattern of collaboration hardly makes sense when you’re human. As soon as a problem appears, you run into the same issue again and again until your system reaches a critical mass. And even then, you must continue to tweak the system until it reaches a critical mass, lest it become unusable.
It seems to me that if an enormous swathe of patients and families are suffering, and only a subsection of staff can effectively address the problem, then the entire healthcare system must be brought under public scrutiny. Staffing levels must be improved, and physicians must be allowed to quickly report exactly the problems they’re experiencing, with the most meaningful help coming from a team of dedicated people.
This is not a soft time for forecasting illness, but an opportunity to invest in test-tube early warning for better diagnostic tools and procedures. Focusing on early warning has the potential, when done properly, to improve the quality of healthcare for all.