Why the Harvard Business Review was wrong about patients
Posted: February 2, 2013 Filed under: Healthcare, Patient experience | Tags: Atul Gawande, Avandia, Carolyn Thomas, Cheesecake Factory, consumers, Harvard Business Review, health care, healthcare, healthcare consumerism, hospital, hospital acquired infection, medical error, patient, patient empowerment, patient engagement, patient experience, patients, practice variation, The Harvard Business, The New Yorker, Toyota 2 Comments »
by Carolyn Thomas ♥ @HeartSisters
Maybe it's because I'm not a physician, a nurse or any other type of health care provider. Maybe it's because I'm merely a dull-witted heart attack survivor. Maybe it's because I spent virtually all of my 30+ year professional career in the field of public relations. But the reality is that I seem to think about health care more like a marketer than the average person might, and as such, I've been puzzled for some time about recent quality of care debates on whether patients should be considered…
Carolyn Thomas writes a provocative and compelling article on the topic of patients as consumers. Highly packed with references to other articles, backed with data and written with the patient in mind, she makes a powerful case that patients are and need to be seen as consumers -- contrary to the position held by a Harvard Business Review article. Read the full article here.
Hi Doug – thanks so much for reposting my Heart Sisters blog article here. There’s certainly a wide range of opinion – pro and con – about this interesting issue, from patients and our caregivers alike.
My pleasure Carolyn! Thanks for your perspective on this topic! Very thoughtful and thought-provoking!