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On the patient experience (and Gel Health)
A quick reminder that I'm running one of the most important events of my career, next month, and I'd really like for you to be there.
First, a quick thought.
Garrison Keillor, the author and host of "Prairie Home Companion," recently suffered a mild stroke, was treated at the Mayo Clinic, and wrote a thoughtful essay on his patient experience.
The end of the essay shows how simple, effective, and important it is to view healthcare through the lens of the patient experience:
The women who draw blood samples at Mayo do it gently with a whole litany of small talk to ease the little blip of puncture, and "here it comes" and the needle goes in, and "Sorry about that," and I feel some human tenderness there, as if she thought, "I could be the last woman to hold that dude's hand." A brief sweet moment of common humanity.And that is a gift to the man who has been struck by a stroke: our common humanity. It's powerful in a hospital. ... And now we must reform our health insurance system so that it reflects our common humanity. It is not decent that people avoid seeking help for want of insurance. It is not decent that people go broke trying to get well. You know it and I know it. Time to fix it.
I intend to explore "our common humanity" in health care with my event next month, the Gel Health conference. It's my attempt to begin a new conversation, and community, around how to improve the patient experience.
As with the spring event, I'm not particularly interested in technology for its own sake, or celebrity speakers for their own sake, or overpriced tickets for my sake. I'm running the very best speakers on the topic, at the lowest ticket price I can afford, to offer the most authentic, genuine and transformative experience I can for everyone who's there.
If you have any interest at all in the patient experience, BE THERE. (And keep in mind that we all encounter the patient experience - either directly, or via friends and family - sooner or later.)
Speakers booked so far for Gel Health:
• Dr. Bridget Duffy, former Chief Experience Officer, Cleveland Clinic
• Dr. Robert Martensen, author, "A Life Worth Living"; lecturer, Dept. of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School
• Cathy Salit, working with Johns Hopkins oncology nurses via Performance of a Lifetime
• Dan Ford, patient advocate
• Dr. Javette Orgain, family physician and chairperson, Illinois State Board of Health
• Dr. John La Puma, author, "ChefMD's Big Book of Culinary Medicine"
• Dr. Jim Withers, founder, Operation Safety Net
• Dr. Mark Pochapin, director, Jay Monahan Center for Gastrointestinal Health
• Michael Christensen, cofounder and creative director of the Big Apple Circus, and founder of Clown Care
• Olie Westheimer, founder, Brooklyn Parkinson Group; cofounder, "Dance for PD" with Mark Morris Dance Group
• Dr. Sigall Bell, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
• Bill Brownstein, founder, Kids RX
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Gel Health conference (see speaker list and all info)
Thursday-Friday, October 22-23
New York City
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Thanks to our platinum sponsor Sanofi-Aventis, and our gold sponsor ZS Associates, for helping Gel Health to get this far.
Hope to see you there.
I commend this effort. Patient Exp (PE) is a critical aspect of the health service industry that is missing. I personally believe that it is better if the PE leader is not a medical professional but someone from the outside. Too often I find they view the PE issue through tinted glasses.