Maclean's interview with Sholom Glouberman: More on PFCC, EMR and patient experience

Here's a great interview with Sholom Glouberman, founder of the Patients' Association of Canada, is yet another illustration of how poor system design interferes with patient care.

Points of note:

He is an intelligent, confident man with extensive experience in
healthcare, yet he describes his experience as "passive".

Physicians weren't aware of key clinical information, even though it was apparently written in his chart.

Staff signatures were often illegible. His take on the possible
reason for that is interesting. I always thought it was just poor habit,
but he has reason to suggest it may be deliberate.

I particularly note one of his final points. When he is asked whether patients are being asked to participate on healthcare planning and operational committees, he says:

It’s beginning to happen. There are patients on boards of hospitals and health care organizations now. But the patients have to be trained up so that they’re not taken over by the system, and they have to have support. That’s why we need a patients’ organization that stands behind them and is a place where they can come to for resources and for help.