An Educated Consumer Can Be the Best Patient

I lived in New York City for 12 years and one of my favorite stores was called Syms. For those who do not know the store it was, and still is, a place to buy designer clothing at discount prices - same quality/lower price. It was a very busy place and it took a lot of rooting through things to find the real bargains. Well known brands were mixed with less well known, and often inferior, brands.

Sym's motto was well known by all New Yorkers. "An educated consumer is our best customer." Quite simply if you know the designer brands you like, and what they cost at Bergdorfs then you are likely to recognize true bargains when you find them at Syms.

How does this relate to medical care? For most procedures it's important to know how to prepare, what to expect and what recovery involves. The actual procedure, or options, are usually based on the doctors recommendation.

If you are interested in cosmetic surgery you need to start by deciding your goals. The next step is to find out what procedures can help achieve these goals. The more you know about the procedure you are seeking, the more likely it is that you can make a good decision in selecting the provider. And the more likely you can get the quality you seek for a price you can afford.

There are a number of good resources for people seeking cosmetic surgery. Here's a site that is growing in popularity. Called RealSelf it's where real people talk about their experiences and costs. Take a look. It's interesting and has some good information.

Mark

More Nurses Can Make a Difference

On a recent trip to Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur I visited a number of outstanding hospitals. I met with physicians, administrators and staff from every department. Like those who are considering travel to other countries for surgical procedures, I wanted to know the qualifications of the physicians, the accreditation of the facilities and the general hospital environment. I also wanted to know the ratio of nurses to patients. Many who have been hospitalized here in the US can recount the frustration of trying to get a nurse to come to the room to help with both medical and necessary daily needs. Often the entire hospital experience is overshadowed by what feels like a nursing shortage. Interesting, a recent study reported in the New York Times, suggests, that medical outcomes can be affected when the ratio of nurses to patients is low. Fortunately, in some of the facilities I visited, the nursing ratios were significantly higher than in the US making the whole hospital experience for patients very pleasant and, based on this latest study, a positive influence on their recovery.

So be sure to ask about the nursing ratios in the hospitals that you are reviewing for your surgery. Four to six patients per nurse is the proper ratio for general surgical services and one nurse for one patient in the intensive care unit.

by Mervyn F. Silverman, MD, MPH

Medical Director, Pacific Medways

Welcome to The Medical Voyager

We are pleased to introduce The Medical Voyager, a new blog designed for the rapidly growing healthcare travel community (also known as medical tourism.) More and more people are traveling for healthcare. And more and more countries and hospitals are competing for these travelers.

This blog is for you if you have a medical need, or have a friend or loved one with a medical need. It's also for you if you are a doctor or other healthcare professional interested in working with medical travelers.

Our goal with this blog is to provide you with information. Let us know what you want to discuss. Some topics we are planning include:

• How to find the right hospital and doctor
• Which procedures are right for medical travel
• What medical advances are being made around the world
• Which country is best
• How to plan medical travel
• How to be comfortable in the country
• The financial aspects of medical travel

The Medical Voyager welcomes comments from our readers. That's an important part of what we seek to do with the blog. However, we will delete posts that are pornographic or violent in nature. We will also delete posts that attempt to defame individuals or institutions and any post that we consider inappropriate.

Welcome to The Medical Voyager.

Mark Dyer

Editor, The Medical Voyager