e-Patient Dave

Power to the Patient!

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“Superb! Superb! No other word for it. A knockout.” So, a winter sale!

A quick update on two aspects of my speaking business:

  • As the post title suggests, the “consultative speaking” approach I use continues to bring great results. (Yes, that’s what the client said.)
  • I’m offering a winter sale because I have more capacity in my calendar than usual in the coming months: half off my usual speaking fee for any bookings with contract signed by March 31. Bring it on! Use the contact page.

Recent speeches have been to audiences of software developers in Amsterdam, innovators (Exponential Medicine, San Diego), and a medication security company customer event then their internal company meeting (TraceLink, Chicago and Boston), and though the audiences were very different, each got very strong response, because every speech is carefully tailored to the sponsor’s needs.

My topics have expanded beyond the traditional “Dave’s cancer story” and “about e-patients.” In addition to custom requests, topics now include
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From Paternal Care to Autonomy and Emancipation (15 minute slidecast)

For the past several years a number of themes have repeatedly arisen in my work that aren’t widely discussed elsewhere, and I’ve wanted to make them available to wider audiences, so I’ve started recording occasional “slidecasts” – I play the slides on my computer and narrate. Here’s the latest. It’s a core topic in rethinking the patient-provider relationship: paternal caring, which is necessary in some situations, vs the increasing shift to patient empowerment, autonomy, and even emancipation – the removal of constraints.

I did this for my head & neck cancer patient friends in New Zealand, whom I met during my fellowship last fall. We’ve kept in touch on their Facebook group. On Thursday two of them, Maureen Jansen and Tammy von Keisenberg, are speaking about “health literacy” – a subject that’s misunderstood far too often, and which is often tied to discussions of whether patients should or can be independent to one extent or another. Food for thought.

Thanks once again to the sponsors and organizers of that fellowship: Spark Revera (New Zealand’s telecomms company, totally into the emerging world of e-health) especially @eHealthDoc Will Reedy MD, and Waitemata District Health Board, especially head & neck cancer surgeon David Grayson MD @Sasanof and its “i3” innovation center headed by Dr. Penny Andrew.