Mon Aug 17, 2009

ON TODAY'S SHOW CRNTALK.COM

Dr. Maria Hester is a board certified internist with an unquenchable passion for patient empowerment. She wrote her first book when she was still in medical school. Despite the grueling medical school routine, she was determined to teach people how to live healthier lives and minimize suffering. Her second book, Your Family Medical Record: An Interactive Guide to Getting the Best Care was published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. in 2000, long before partnering in one’s health care was a popular concept. Realizing far more needs to be done to bridge the gaps between doctors and patients, she developed an online health portal with links to numerous health education web sites. She believed that since doctors have medical school to teach them how to be good doctors, patients deserve a patient school to empower them to be good patients. Thus, she developed PatientSchool.net. She recently developed the Patient Whiz, a credit card size USB flash drive that fits in any standard wallet. The Patient Whiz is chock-full of tips on how to partner with one’s physician to help expedite the correct diagnosis quickly, while decreasing the need for costly, potentially expensive tests. This device also provides national guidelines on age- and sex-appropriate screening tests that have been proven to save lives. However, the greatest strength of the Patient Whiz is its medical record keeping capacity. It provides numerous fill-in charts to allow users to keep up with everything from medication allergies to family medical history. Dr. Hester has seen first hand how the lack of important medical information results in suboptimal care, delayed diagnoses, and exhorbitant medical bills. Her goal is to empower all Americans with basic “patient skills” that will20enable them to obtain the best health care available at a fraction of the cost. Dr. Hester recently became the Health Care Examiner for Baltimore, Maryland. Her articles can be found at Examiner.com.