Understanding how patients and caregivers navigate the growing complex nature of healthcare, underscores how broken our healthcare system can be.  Our current healthcare system demands patients have a college degree in health literacy, superior medical communication skills, extraordinary illness management skills, disposable time to make it to inconvenient multiple appointments and someone waiting in the wings to manage multiple medications. Without adequate help and support, the burdensome journey to seek care can be the cause of unintended complications.  

If you’ve been a patient or a caregiver, this may sound all too familiar to you.  In this episode, host Brian Browne and cohost Lizzy Rasmussen are joined by Samantha Whitman an expert in patient burden/obstacles.  Join us as we discuss the unintended consequences for patients and caregivers as they navigate through a less than friendly system.

Timestamps

0:50 Obstacles for caregivers and patients

2:08 Defining “patient work” and discussing patient obstacles

9:12 Impacts of patient work on patient and caregiver health

14:30 Patient work in acute versus chronic illnesses

18:00 The obstacle of limited time for patients and caregivers

21:10 Identity and Stigma associated with being a patient

22:15 Tools to mitigate negative effects of patient and caregiver work: social support, advocacy, and community

28:40 System-wide changes to reduce patient work

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