Michael Weiss wrote a very popular book entitled "Confessions of a Professional Hospital Patient." He's also started a new blog Hospital Patient and was gracious enough to answer a few questions for us:

You've already written a book about being a "professional" patient, why did you start the hospital patient blog?

First off – thanks so much for showcasing my Blog. It is very rewarding when a cathartic exercise transforms into a mainstream important resource and by you providing me with the opportunity to reach your readership I am moving closer and closer towards that phenomenon. As to your question - in 2001 when I wrote my book (“Confessions of a Professional Hospital Patient”) - I was an entertainment attorney, Film Producer and Patient Advocate. A strange combination indeed but it reflected my passion to help make movies and combined it with what I had taken on as my responsibility to share my health care insights with those less fortunate than I in that my education and unique support system had created a resilient and positive approach that had served me very well. But after 9-11 I felt that it was time to limit the pervasive hold my illness had on my personal life and therefore for my own sanity I had to concentrate on the positive aspects of my life – and that was my career in the indie film world. Accordingly, I have since relocated at the age of 43 to Los Angeles and things are going as planned. However, strangely I found that the relocation process was largely contingent on my ability to find the right doctors and obtain suitable health insurance.

More specifically, my experiences in moving my life from the New York/New Jersey area to Los Angeles awoke my interest in sharing my insights again with those less fortunate than I who, for example, might be contemplating the same kind of positive life change but are afraid or reluctant to do so because of their dependency on local physicians, immediate family or the general unknown about new hospitals, different insurance, new employers/co-workers, etc. So, after forging ahead and yet again realizing how my life was so closely intertwined with the health care system, I decided to use my own life experiences again as a way to examine the system/process in the hope that I can create a positive discourse via a Blog.

As I get more and more into Blogging and reading other health care Blogs like www.hospitalimpact.org, I have come to realize that, much like in filmmaking where the Internet is leveling the playing field for the indie filmmaker, patients have a real voice on-line and the power of those voices needs to be consolidated so that their input will be noticed and counted. In that regard and with key Political Elections coming up, I thought the time was right to use my very straight forward domain name – www.hospitalpatient.com – to begin contributing to the “Patient Movement.” It will take a while and I hope to have Guest Posters/Writers from all walks of the health care and political circles but the goal is to create a forum and community that will have some influence.

Can you describe your best patient experience? Why was it so great?

I have been fortunate enough to have medical professionals who have treated me as a “Person” and not a “Patient” and each time that happens qualifies as a “best patient experience.” These are professionals who understand the intensity of the chronic hospital patient experience and they go out of their way to minimize the hassles and frustrations. This can occur with a simple pleasant tone on the phone, squeezing me in for an appointment, helping me while I am on the road traveling for business, etc. My present gastroenterologist is so thorough and compassionate that, for example, he calls up and schedules my diagnostic tests with his “physician juice” just so I don’t get the runaround from the scheduling staff. Now that is just a very small example but that is representative of a doctor who understands the utter frustrations associated with being a patient. While doctors think they know what goes on in a hospital, they only see a patient for minutes at a time and thus they do not recognize the 24-7 confinement and abandonment issues but when they do – that also always turns into a good experience. I also believe that while doctors give the orders – nurses execute them – and therefore a good nurse is the key to the “hospital patient experience” since it is with that professional with whom you will have the most contact. Lastly, while not directly associated with treatment, I find the affection I receive from my friends and family during each patient experience is always the best part.

What do all hospital leaders need to know about the patient's perspective?

That Patients are “People” and once they begin treatment and/or enter a hospital they do not stop being grandparents, fathers, daughters, sons, community leaders, business people, etc. To that end, the standard and course of care should be taken into consideration just as it is in any other service industry. For too long now physicians have invoked their will onto patients without LISTENING to lifestyle concerns - and that needs to change – especially because technology has now made it possible to do almost anything. I think business competitive forces are making physicians change but hospitals, institutions and health care insurers need to incorporate technology and pop culture into their business plans so that people don’t leave the experience with such disdain for the system and the process. Okay, the system is a difficult one to fix but there is no excuse for the process at times being so cruel and inhumane.