Word: patient
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...doctor will tell you the advantages of having lots of patient data on computers: it helps us avoid redundant tests, gather huge amounts of data for research, screen automatically for drug interactions, all with no problems with our famously illegible handwriting. I would be happy if every patient could hand me a digital file of everything about him; it could really save time on first visits. But against our government's push to get all patients' records computerized we must keep in mind there will be a cost to this - far beyond the billions to be spent setting...
...never quite sure that what we've typed is going to be seen by a real, live, analog nurse, that it isn't just going to disappear. (It does.) We can't order certain things with those buttons and pull-down menus that we could in writing - things like "patient may wear her own flannel nightgown and underwear" or "please, please get the x-ray I ordered for yesterday", or "prop up patient's legs with pillows like this" followed by a little stick-figure drawing. (See pictures from an X-Ray studio...
...that medical data on a nationwide computer network is privacy. Who gets to look? How do you limit access to information and respect privacy when managing a disease, like diabetes or AIDS, that affects many organ systems and so involves many different kinds of doctors and services. Doctor-patient confidentiality seems quite likely to be one of the sacrifices Americans will be required to make to get this project going...
Rather, ACT promotes the acceptance of negative thoughts, emotions and bodily sensations (like chronic pain) that a patient may have struggled with for a long time. The goal is to observe and be mindful of your crummy thoughts and feelings without getting mired in them - and to be able to act in accordance with your values (like, say, going to work every day or not drinking too much) despite them. In short, ACT therapists encourage engagement with life even when it hurts. (Learn about how ACT works and the fascinating psychologist who created...
...greater capacity to do things like go to school regularly. The authors conclude that drugs, while they can help in the short term, don't stimulate long-term behavior change. By contrast, with ACT, "the target in treatment is to clarify and reduce avoidance behaviors that prevent the patient from living a vital life," the study says. (Read "On the Couch Online: Does Tele-Therapy Work...