Wait times, letting patients sleep, debt, etc.
Recently, doctor-activist and MD @DrBryanLeyva asked people, “What should we denormalize in healthcare?” Doctors, nurses, medical staff, and lay people came through with some pretty spot-on examples of what needs to be denormalized in health care.
Twitter: @DrBryanLeyva
1.
The perception/name of “birth control”:
I’d like to replace the word “birth control” with something that more accurately conveys how much of a medical necessity hormonal BC can be for mental/physical health
Everyone should fuck if they feel like it but it’s very often more than just the “fuck if you feel like it” drug https://t.co/LcmuNdXivS
Twitter: @nocksers
3.
Healthcare worker burnout:
@DrBryanLeyva Labeling burnout as an individual problem and requiring the healthcare workforce to engage in self-care, healing, and recovery from burnout during personal time instead of building it in to the workday.
Twitter: @KristiWhitePhD
6.
Explaining medical issues in clinical jargon:
@DrBryanLeyva Explaining things to patients in clinical language only. I had early stage thyroid cancer and related surgery about 5 yrs ago. Recently a scan came up with a “false positive” for a possible recurrence. My doctor explained this to me in very clinical language. It was unhelpful.
Twitter: @karen_eggleson
7.
Fatphobia:
@DrBryanLeyva Fatphobia/conflating weight and health, disbelieving patients when their conditions are difficult to diagnose, allowing ableism/implicit bias to color assumptions about quality of life, providing mental health treatment that ignores structural oppression.
Twitter: @maureen_brookes
8.
This list:
@DrBryanLeyva Denormalize:
Dismissing women’s pain
Using hormonal birth control as a panacea
Assuming overweight is the cause of rather than the result of patients’ symptoms
Calling symptoms psychosomatic or “just stress”
Twitter: @MrsAPriori
10.
Debilitating period pain:
@DrBryanLeyva That periods are meant to be painful, they aren’t. They arn’t meant to interfear with your day to day life.
That endometriosis is a gynaecological disease, it is systemic chronic pain condition and extra-pelvic endo is far more common than drs believe it is.
Twitter: @curexcomplex
11.
Discharging patients with inadequate wound supplies:
@DrBryanLeyva Denormalize discharging patients w/out wound care supplies & thoroughly understood instructions.
Twitter: @medickimw
13.
Dismissing chronic pain:
@DrBryanLeyva Dismissing the pain of people with chronic pain. Also, dismissing legitimate medical issues in people living with mental illness.
Twitter: @kobwolfe
14.
Not listening to Black patients:
@DrBryanLeyva @TheRealNubian2 Not listening to black patients when they tell HCW’s they’re in pain or that something is not right with them.
Twitter: @alexiamizell_
15.
Having the patient undress BEFORE talking to them:
@DrBryanLeyva Having patients get undressed and draped to converse, then doing the exam.
Conversation should occur first, while dressed. Then, if necessary, patients change for exam.
Twitter: @MrsAPriori
Did they miss anything? Let me know in the comments below!
BuzzFeed Daily
Keep up with the latest daily buzz with the BuzzFeed Daily newsletter!