Well Said Health
Stagione 1
Meet the Hospitalist
Why EVERYONE Needs a Health Advocate
di Robin L Shapiro
The doctor in charge of your hospital care is probably someone you've never met. Four questions change that. Every year, 36 million Americans — one in nine of us — are admitted to the hospital. And the physician running the show from check-in to discharge usually isn't the primary care doctor you know. It's a hospitalist: a physician who works only in the hospital, managing the care of admitted patients. Most people don't learn that until they're already in a hospital bed. Dr. Clark Coler has seen hospital medicine from every side. The son of a small-town internist who made house calls with a black bag, trained at the Mayo Clinic where patients' humanity comes first, he became one of Seattle's first hospitalists when the movement launched in 1994 — and he's spent more than 30 years caring for patients at the most frightening moments of their lives. In this conversation, Clark demystifies who actually runs your hospital care, why the shift structure matters to your family, the best (and worst) days to be admitted, why discharge is where mistakes happen — and the exact questions that get you and the people you love better, safer care. Link to full show notes: https://www.wellsaidhealth.com/meet-the-hospitalist/
Nobody can navigate healthcare alone — not even the experts. Anne Llewellyn spent four decades inside the system as a nurse, risk manager, case manager, and editor. Then in November 2014, a doctor said “you have a brain tumor” — and she couldn’t speak for herself. In the season opener, Anne shares what being a patient taught her that 40 years in healthcare couldn't, what a great advocate actually does (and what any spouse, daughter, or friend can copy tomorrow), and how to find, vet, and afford professional help. You have more power than you think. This episode is where you learn to use it. Link to full show notes: https://www.wellsaidhealth.com/why-everyone-needs-a-health-advocate/
What if the words you use with your doctor could change everything? Welcome to Well Said Health. I'm Robin Shapiro, and for my entire career I've helped patients tell their stories — health experiences that inspire others to navigate healthcare better, ask bolder questions, and get the care they deserve. This podcast brings you real life stories from people who've faced some of the most common, urgent, and sometimes dangerous medical situations you might find yourself in. Each episode, gives you language to use, the questions to ask, and where to turn when you need help the most. Because here's what I know after a lifetime of witnessing these conversations: you have more power than you think. You just need to know how to use it. Well Said Health is coming soon — wherever you get your podcasts.