Amazon The Take Charge Patient The Take-Charge Patient Category:  Health/Wellness Publisher: Lemon Grove Press ISBN-10:  0981524036 Type: Non-Fiction Pages: 325 Copyright: May 15, 2012 ISBN-13: 9780981524030 The Take-Charge Patient empowers patients to become pro-active, assertive, well informed participants in their own health care. With advice and personal stories from over 200 doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and other health professionals and patients, The Take-Charge Patient reveals insider information on how to cut through the red tape and navigate today’s complex health care system with confidence.  Winner of 16 book awards, The Take-Charge Patient empowers readers to become their own advocates and effectively navigate our complex healthcare system.  The Take-Charge Patient is an excellent resource for patients.  Comprehensive and thorough, it provides patients with informed checklists to ensure they get the best care possible. Patients who are actively involved in their healthcare realize better outcomes.”  Peter J. Pronovost, MD, PhD, Professor, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and Bloomberg School of Public Health; Director, The Armstrong Institute of Safety and Quality, author of Safe Patients, Smart Hospitals

Publishers Weekly
Asserting that "It's time for us to step up to the plate and take charge of ourselves as patients," Ehrenclou (Critical Conditions) immediately sets a proactive tone for this empowering and refreshing roadmap to navigating the torturous healthcare system, outlining everything from how to manage health information to finding lower-cost/free healthcare. To research patient advocacy needs, Ehrenclou interviewed "over 175 physicians and patients," aggregating responses and well-placed quotes. As she worked, however, Ehrenclou developed serious chronic pain and beta-tested her own advice, eventually securing treatment that would result in her being pain-free today. She covers big-picture topics, like methods for researching your own condition and possible diagnoses, as well as more particular considerations, such as the best times to call a pharmacist. Each chapter concludes with a first-person patient checklist that is both encouraging and practical. While full of cogent information, this exhaustive guide functions best as reference material for patients with the wherewithal and time to take on their own case. (May)


ForeWord Reviews



Book Reviews

suite101.com
The Take-Charge Patient by Martine Ehrenclou, An In-Depth Look and Review
Everyone who sees or needs a doctor quite regularly should own a copy of this book. This compact guidebook for medical care could be a life-changer and a life-saver.

The Take-Charge Patient is a book that grew out of the Martine Ehrenclou’s personal need for medical advice and treatment that was not forthcoming in her early doctor visits. After 16 months of multiple doctor visits, a true and valid diagnosis was found and treatment was secured that worked. This search for help and pain-relief took many months, many doctors and much research, investigation and soul-searching to get to that endpoint. In The Take-Charge Patient the author shares how to deal with medical issues, doctors and other personnel to reach the best outcome possible. All who read and heed her advice will benefit from the insights, guidelines and wisdom of this book published by Lemon Grove Press, LLC, Santa Monica, Ca. ISBN 978-0-9815240-3-0.
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Publishers Weekly
The Take-Charge Patient: How YOU Can Get the Best Medical Care
Martine Ehrenclou. Lemon Grove (Ingram, dist.), $19.95 trade paper (320p) ISBN 978-0-9815240-3-0
Reviewed June 18, 2012

Asserting that "It's time for us to step up to the plate and take charge of ourselves as patients," Ehrenclou (Critical Conditions) immediately sets a proactive tone for this empowering and refreshing roadmap to navigating the torturous healthcare system, outlining everything from how to manage health information to finding lower-cost/free healthcare. To research patient advocacy needs, Ehrenclou interviewed "over 175 physicians and patients," aggregating responses and well-placed quotes. As she worked, however, Ehrenclou developed serious chronic pain and beta-tested her own advice, eventually securing treatment that would result in her being pain-free today. She covers big-picture topics, like methods for researching your own condition and possible diagnoses, as well as more particular considerations, such as the best times to call a pharmacist. Each chapter concludes with a first-person patient checklist that is both encouraging and practical. While full of cogent information, this exhaustive guide functions best as reference material for patients with the wherewithal and time to take on their own case.


Foreword Reviews
Similar to her first book, Critical Conditions: The Essential Hospital Guide to Get Your Loved One Out Alive, Martine Ehrenclou has written The Take-Charge Patient with the kind of authority and know-how that only someone who has experienced these challenges first-hand can achieve. The information is thorough, the tone comforting, and Ehrenclou’s straightforward suggestions make even the most daunting tasks—such as telling a long-time doctor you want a second opinion—seem doable.

Divided into short, straightforward chapters, The Take-Charge Patient covers everything from understanding the doctor-patient relationship and getting the most out of each doctor visit to preventing medical errors and differentiating between types of procedures and care providers. Starting each section and woven in throughout are valuable first-person stories and advice shared by the more than two hundred patients and health professionals (including surgeons, family practitioners, registered nurses, medical assistants, and clinical professors) Ehrenclou interviewed.

For anyone facing a complex diagnosis or condition in today’s increasingly complicated health world, The Take-Charge Patient is a valuable tool and guide with sound advice that won’t soon be outdated.

Goodreads
This book is exactly what I would expect such a work to be. It is well written, informative, full of surprises and specific recommendations on how to deal with them.

I would give it a ten if the scale went that high. However, since the scale only goes to five, I will have to settle for that.

I was half way through this book when I had a relatively minor medical emergency. I had not even finished the books’ recommendations and I started using them. They worked. I am not recommending that you ignore half the book, but my personal experience is that if you take the book’s recommendations and use them, you will get better care. That is the intent of this book. In my personal case, I can verify that it succeeded.

Each chapter ends with a list of specific action items in textbook fashion. This is a brilliant presentation.

Read this book. Take its advice. It may save your life.