Publishers Weekly
01/21/2019
Registered nurse Goldberg guides patients and their loved ones through the “dysfunctional medical-industrial complex,” offering advice on how to choose a provider, ask the right questions, and demand or deny treatment. An advocate for patient rights, Goldberg stresses that “patient agency... is as important, often more important, than medical expertise and innovation.” Easy to read and informative—the book cites 2017 research suggesting female surgeons and internists are more empathetic toward patients—Goldberg’s work outlines strategies for routine, emergency, and long-term care, as well as handling pharmacies and insurance billing. Readers will learn that dressing up for appointments can yield better care, that patients can and should ask their doctors for the reasoning behind diagnoses, and, if going to the hospital, to bring a notebook to jot down questions, procedures, and medications. Goldberg also suggests what to ask to determine if a test is necessary or if one is receiving the right medication. Her book offers a solid, straightforward resource for getting quality health care. Agent: Allison Hunter, Janklow & Nesbit Assoc. (Mar.)
From the Publisher
“How to Be a Patient is an excellent guide for health care professionals and novices alike to maximize their chances of obtaining the best medical care possible. Whether you’re healthy or experiencing chronic medical problems, young or old, male or female, there’s a chapter for you. Reading the book and following the recommendations will provide the knowledge, confidence, and preparation required to ensure you receive the health care you deserve. “ — Robert Pearl, MD, bestselling author of Mistreated
“How to Be a Patient should be required reading for patients and health care providers alike. With keen attention the systemic failures and unconscious biases that make the medical system a minefield for so many patients, Goldberg offers eminently useful advice for navigating it. This book will leave you with answers to questions you didn’t even know to ask.” — Maya Dusenbery, author of Doing Harm: The Truth About How Bad Medicine and Lazy Science Leave Women Dismissed, Misdiagnosed, and Sick
“An invaluable guidebook for patients and their loved ones: in short, all of us. Goldberg says above all, patients need agency—asking questions, expecting to be heard, educating themselves, and sometimes saying no—to get the care we all deserve.” — Theresa Brown, RN, New York Times bestselling author of The Shift: One Nurse, Twelve Hours, Four Patients’ Lives.
“Easy to read and informative. How to Be a Patient offers a solid, straightforward resource for getting quality health care.” — Publishers Weekly
“With easily digestible truths and tools…[and] clear, swiftly delivered guidance…Goldberg ably navigates the contemporary pathways of health self-advocacy and empowers readers…. A plainspoken, universally applicable medical reference guide inspiring patient agency.” — Kirkus Reviews
“How to Be a Patient imparts little-known strategies for receiving optimal care and attention… [and] Goldberg’s adeptness at storytelling brings a personal tone to a system that often seems to snub individual experience.” — Reediana
Maya Dusenbery
How to Be a Patient should be required reading for patients and health care providers alike. With keen attention the systemic failures and unconscious biases that make the medical system a minefield for so many patients, Goldberg offers eminently useful advice for navigating it. This book will leave you with answers to questions you didn’t even know to ask.
Robert Pearl
“How to Be a Patient is an excellent guide for health care professionals and novices alike to maximize their chances of obtaining the best medical care possible. Whether you’re healthy or experiencing chronic medical problems, young or old, male or female, there’s a chapter for you. Reading the book and following the recommendations will provide the knowledge, confidence, and preparation required to ensure you receive the health care you deserve. “
Reediana
How to Be a Patient imparts little-known strategies for receiving optimal care and attention… [and] Goldberg’s adeptness at storytelling brings a personal tone to a system that often seems to snub individual experience.
Theresa Brown
An invaluable guidebook for patients and their loved ones: in short, all of us. Goldberg says above all, patients need agency—asking questions, expecting to be heard, educating themselves, and sometimes saying no—to get the care we all deserve.”
Kirkus Reviews
2019-01-14
Practical medical advice from a veteran registered nurse and public health advocate.
In the preface, Goldberg, who was raised by an obstetrician, sympathizes with the plight of dissatisfied people who inevitably find the pursuit of quality health care "confusing, chaotic, and defeating." She admits to loving her chosen profession, but she has periodically lost faith in the way it functions and has become "acutely aware of the fractures in our medical infrastructure by witnessing things fall through them everywhere from community clinics to operating rooms." She has seen family members undergo unnecessary chemotherapy, have serious ailments be misdiagnosed, and even file for bankruptcy because of insurmountable medical bills. With an amiable approach and easily digestible truths and tools, Goldberg seeks to alleviate at least some of the exasperation felt by patients. Her guide contains up-to-date medical information, dispensed with the goal of improving an average patient's "health literacy." Beginning with the basics of choosing a primary care provider and assembling a medical history dossier, the author addresses such topics as managing annual physicals, strategies for talking to doctors to maximize the benefits of each visit, and weathering routine procedures and diagnoses. With clear, swiftly delivered guidance, Goldberg discusses medical maladies both common and chronic, and her tone remains approachable yet professional, particularly when exploring the dynamics of urgent care visits versus emergency room treatment, hospital stays, vaccines, and pediatric and geriatric care. A clear-cut section on modern medicine helps patients navigate pain, encourages health advocacy for transgender patients, and tackles the variances in gender-specific medicine. Goldberg also includes tips on rights and responsibilities regarding insurance as well as a brief closing section describing five common patient types. Though the book is not a comprehensive health manual, Goldberg ably navigates the contemporary pathways of health self-advocacy and empowers readers to incorporate her sound advice into their own wellness objectives.
A plainspoken, universally applicable medical reference guide inspiring patient agency.
