About the Blog
“Mind the Gap” is a warning heard on subway systems around the world. It is intended to alert individuals to avoid accidentally stepping in the “gap” that separates the train from the platform.
As used here, it is an expression that alludes to the communications gap that exists all too often today between patients and their physicians. Like the subway, this blog is a kind of warning. It is intended to making health care provider and organizations aware of the consequences of poor physician-patient communications…and how to avoid them.
About The Author
I earned my BA and Masters in Public Health, Medical Care Organization, from the University of Michigan. My master thesis explored the application of The Health Belief Model in promoting appropriate use of community emergency medical services.
I have a varied professional background, having been an Emergency Medical Technician, a regional health planner, hospital marketing executive, consumer health behavior researcher, health advocate and presently the co-founder of a consumer health start-up specializing in tailored health communication.
While a consumer health behavior researcher and consultant, my interest in physician-provider communications was piqued in 2004 when my wife was diagnosed with Stage 4 Lung Cancer. While both my wife and I have been in health care for years, neither one of us was prepared for how hard it would be to navigate our way through the health care system. Poor communications, including delayed diagnosis, patient hand off issues and paternalistic, dictatorial providers, lie at the heart of many of our problems.
I am a proud native of Michigan and currently live in San Jose, CA with my beautiful, supportive wife. By the way, my wife is alive and well today and I am able to use this blog to share what I have learned since 2004 to the hoped for benefit of both providers and patients.
About My Company – Smart Health Messaging
Smart Health Messaging (use the back button on your browser to return to this blog) is a health communication start-up focused on helping physicians “keep the conversation going” with patients before, during and in between office visits through the use of highly relevant, tailored health messages across a variety of media.
Mind The Gap 