Heading Home
Planning for hospital discharge Hospital discharge — the process when a patient heads home after a hospitalization or procedure — brings a sense of relief for some, a moment to celebrate for others, and a time fraught with problems and worry for many. No two discharge experiences are alike, due to so many moving parts, […]
Tips for Getting Sleep in the Hospital
If you or any of your loved ones has ever been hospitalized, one of the complaints you may have heard about most is how hard it is to sleep in the hospital. There are lots of things about hospital routines that can make things difficult for patients to sleep, besides noise and illness. While some […]
Keeping the human connection in medicine
The New England Journal of Medicine recently published a thoughtful essay by David Rosenthal and Abraham Verghese on the many changes in how doctors are trained and how they practice medicine. Efforts to improve efficiency and accuracy — including the introduction of electronic medical records — offer benefits, and pose some complicated problems. Doctors need […]
Local Hospitals Receive A’s in Hospital Safety Scores
By Laura Drucker When it comes to choosing the right hospital for your needs, the factor of patient safety—how well a hospital protects its patients from preventable medical errors, accidents, injuries and infections—should be one of the most important to take into account. Fortunately, The Leapfrog Group, a national nonprofit program focused on transparency and […]
From Routine Surgery to Family Nightmare
By Anthony Bonazzo In June 2012, my sister, Jennifer, called me from New Jersey. She told me not to worry but that my father, John, was going to the ER. He was nauseated and short of breath. Later, after being admitted to the hospital, we learned that he had had a minor heart attack. The […]
Demystifying Doctor and Hospital Ratings
When looking at online doctor ratings sites, consider the source By Leigh Page With thousands of doctors and more than 100 hospitals in the Chicago area, it can get pretty tricky to choose the best physician for your needs. Healthcare consumers are increasingly turning to online rating sites, but those options are just as dizzying, […]
Online Resources For Choosing a Hospital or Doctor
The Internet offers an array of websites designed to help patients evaluate doctors and hospitals. But which one is best? Here, Dr. Bruce Minsky, chief quality officer at the University of Chicago Medical Center, and Cynthia Barnard, director of quality strategies at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and chair of the Quality Measurement Advisory Task Force of […]
New Study by Chicago Doctor May Help With Complicated Pregnancies
A new study, conducted by researchers at the University of Oklahoma, found that women whose water had broken prematurely, and whose babies were breech, had worse health outcomes for both the mother and child than those whose water broke prematurely but whose babies were not breech. This information could be crucial for doctors when they […]
Going for Seconds
Complex medical issues may require more input than your doctor can provide. We tend to think of our doctor as having all the answers. We expect that he or she will know what’s wrong with us and know how to fix it. We expect this of our doctor, after all. We sometimes forget that science […]
Critical Choices: Which Hospital and Physician is Best for You?
When you want to buy a car, you can test-drive a variety of vehicles before you make your choice. When you need a new pair of jeans, you can try on styles by various designers in pursuit of that perfect fit. But when you have a health problem that cannot be ignored, you can’t give […]
