e-Patient Dave Launches New Book - Let Patients Help!

e-Patient Dave is coming to Australia in late June for a speaking tour. I was thrilled to receive a copy from Dave of his new book. I plan on writing a couple of posts relevant to Dave's book over the coming days. Here's a peak however as to what is included:

Let Patients Help!

A patient engagement handbook -
how doctors, nurses, patients and caregivers
can partner for better care.

It’s concise – less than 100 pages – because as Dave says: He wants people to READ IT!  

You can buy it here, on CreateSpace, Amazon’s self-publishing site:

Let Patients Help on CreateSpace

(CreateSpace requires creating a free account. It’ll be on Amazon in a while.)

It’s a book of lists:

• Part 1: Ten Fundamental Truths
• Part 2: Ten Ways to Let Patients Help
• Part 3: Tip Sheets

As the subtitle suggests, this book is about partnership between patients and professionals. It tells why it’s valid and important for medicine to listen to patients, with specific how-to’s on making it a reality. A patient engagement handbook.

In keeping with that spirit, has some great medicos contributing:

“With Dr. Danny Sands”

Dave's famous primary physician, Dr. Danny Sands, is not only on the cover, he’s in the pages: he wrote some of them. In part 3 (the tip sheets) he wrote:

• Ten Things Clinicians Say That Encourage Patient Engagement
• Ten Things Clinicians Say (or do) That Discourage Patient Engagement
• For Patients: Collaborating Effectively with Your Clinicians
• Dr. Danny Sands’ Rules for Smart Web Use

Regular readers will know that Dr. Sands has been a pioneer of patient engagement since the 1990s. Way back then he…

• co-created the first medical record system and patient portal at our hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess
• co-authored the first published guidelines on how to do doctor-patient email successfully
• became a friend and colleague of “Doc Tom” Ferguson, founder of the e-patient movement.

Introduction by Eric J. Topol, M.D.

 AND the amazing Eric Topol wrote the introduction. Read full text of the introduction here. If you don’t know Dr. Topol’s name, here are a few glimpses:

• His TED talk The Wireless Future of Health. He nailed it – and that was in 2009! 
• His excellent January appearance on NBC Rock Center with Brian Williams: The key to better health care may already be in your pocket… and it’s not your wallet
• His important book Creative Destruction of Medicine

NOTE: Dave will be speaking at events in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra during his visit. If you would like Dave to speak to your organisation please contact me for further details and sponsorship opportunities.