My Bookshelf: Laugh, Sing, and Eat Like a Pig July 28, 2010
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in e-patient, Health 2.0, Medicine, Medicine 2.0, My Bookshelf, Web 2.0.2 comments
I’ve recently started a new series called My Bookshelf in which I post short reviews of the new books I finish. The second book I review is written by fellow blogger and e-patient superstar, Dave deBronkart. First I read the story of Dave years ago, and actually, he is now included in my Internet in Medicine university accredited course. I describe his story to my students as he is THE example of how e-patients can leverage the potential advantages of web 2.0. His recent book, Laugh, Sing, and Eat Like a Pig, How an empowered patient beat stage IV cancer (and what healthcare can learn from it) is just fantastic.
1) I’m sure it’s a golden mine of information for patients dealing with similar health issues; 2) it’s more than useful for doctors who really want to know how they can help their patients even more; 3) it should be a must-read book for policy makers in order to get insights about the lives of empowered patients.
He does not only share his moving and inspirational story, but also shares his opinions on electronic medical records, Google Health, patient communities and also contacting other e-patients. This book will certainly lead the way for the Participatory Healthcare and also for the Medicine 2.0 and Health 2.0 movements. A must-read!
- Visit the book’s web pages: www.LaughSingBook.com
- Read the reviews on Amazon
- Buy it on Amazon
- Buy it on Amazon UK (not in stock yet, grrr!)
How e-patients can help heal healthcare: New Book July 7, 2010
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in e-patient, Health 2.0, My Bookshelf, Video, Web 2.0.add a comment
ePatient Dave who shared his story (video below) with my students in the “Internet in Medicine” course this semester, is about to publish his own book, Laugh, Sing, and Eat Like a Pig: How an Empowered Patient Beat Stage IV Cancer.
Now three of his friends wrote essays about this important issue:
We who’ve worked on it hope it will provoke thought about how healthcare is changing because of what e-patients can contribute, empowered as individuals and enabled by the internet. To start that process, we’re publishing the introduction.
Three friends and mentors generously offered introductory essays. These essays they have little to do with my story, and everything to do with how e-patients can help heal healthcare:
- Part 1, by Dr. Danny Sands: Putting Information—and Knowledge—in Patients’ Hands
- Part 2, by Paul Levy: Yes, Patients Can Help Their Doctors
- Part 3, by Matthew Holt: Changing Relationships and Changing Technology
My Bookshelf: The Decision Tree February 22, 2010
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Health, Health 2.0, Healthcare, Medicine, My Bookshelf.3 comments
I’m starting a new series here called My Bookshelf in which I will post short reviews of the new books I finish. I’m glad the first book I mention is The Decision Tree by Thomas Goetz, the executive editor of Wired Magazine. I met Thomas during last year’s Science Foo Camp event and he has a unique vision about how healthcare should work. The starting point of the book is that healthcare is one of the few fields where people don’t exactly know what kind of choices they have, how they can make a decision based on facts and reliable information. It’s obvious that they have to be able to access such information so then they can make the best possible decisions (by using properly designed decision trees).
The Decision Tree is one of (if not) the best health-related books I’ve ever read. I hate those books that try to tell me something though essays and musings. What I love is content and information. This book provides a huge amount of interesting content, great stories and also does it in a totally enjoyable way. It certainly creates a new way of thinking about healthcare decisions.
- Uniqueness of the basic idea of the book: 10/10
- The way it was written: 10/10
- Overall score (including price, figures, etc.): 10/10
