Abstract
Welcome all
Summer has finally arrived! It seems like winter hung on for a long time this year.
I’ve just completed a recent hospital service rotation for neurology. During the rotation, I was struck by this incredible need to develop discharge and treatment plans with patients that they would actually follow through on. A medical student commented to me that this is much different at times than what we would simply suggest based on best evidence. We subsequently had a conversation that caring for human beings is not always about the evidence-based best practice but more about how health can fit into their busy lives. As an example, a patient with prior stroke was evaluated in the emergency department with concern for stroke symptoms. Unfortunately, however, the patient had canceled all of their stroke appointments over the past 8 years. When it was suggested on rounds that the patient follow up with stroke as an outpatient, I asked whether or not we actually thought this would happen. The team concluded that it wouldn’t. Therefore, we asked the stroke team to evaluate the patient while they were in the hospital.
This is by no means ideal. In the ideal situation, health-care systems have operationalized primary care that extends to high-risk patients who may have barriers to receiving optimal care that we don’t yet understand. To that end, rather than writing on the discharge summary to schedule an outpatient primary care appointment, we can make an impact by picking up the phone and communicating with their primary care physician whom they trust. We can ask the patient what barriers they may have to care. We can push for systems that meet the patient where they are. We sometimes forget that people have concerns well beyond their medical condition which can include financial, relational, and occupational.
In this issue of the Journal of Patient Experience, many of our articles focus on patient experiences with specific diseases and choices. You’ll notice as you read them that each has a beautiful thread about how personal choices and values have significant impact on choices they make in day-to-day life. I wonder how many care teams knew what these values were…
Here’s to making sure each of us do.
Artist and Industrial Designer, Katelyn McCormick, explores the medium of silkscreen in a nontraditional sense through the experimentation of materiality.
In “Faces,” she uses silkscreen on precut acetate sheets to convey her message. The entire series is comprised of many layers of 3 different faces. The artist then arranged and rearranged each mini composition, mixing, and matching layers.
The layers from each face vary in definition from abstract shapes to semirealistic gestures. This variability depicts the depths and unknown of ourselves and others. The transparency of each layer portrays vulnerability while also acting as a window into the piece.
Katelyn McCormick received her BFA in printmaking and BA in Advertising from the Pennsylvania State University in 2017 and is currently completing her Master’s Degree in Industrial Design from Thomas Jefferson University. 80 Marimac Rd. Bridgeton NJ 08303