Ep028: "e-Patient Dave” on Patient Activism, Participatory Medicine, and the Science of Engagement

That's Unusual

We are all patients, but only one has come to be recognized as the face and voice for a growing community of activists encouraging the rise of participatory medicine. My guest today is a cancer survivor and patient advocate, Dave deBronkart, better known as e-Patient Dave.

The evolving field of health & medicine has many challenges, but having patients pro-actively participate in their medical decision-making shouldn’t be one of them. As an industry that has historically relied on the one-sided expertise of physicians, technology and the internet have fundamentally changed the game. Patients have much greater access to information than ever before.

So why then is it still so difficult to get patients to take charge of their health? As it turns out, e-Patient Dave believes there is a science to patient engagement and behavior change that is not too different from how we describe the mechanism of action of a drug. On this episode, Dave shares what this means, what he has learned in his own personal journey on battling the ugly “C” word, what he believes is the fundamental difference between a patient and consumer, and what we need to do going forward so that patients play a more central and active role in their care.

I found this conversation to be both inspirational and informative as I hope you will too. e-Patient Dave is an inspiring human being who believes the voice of the patient needs to be heard around the world. All this and more on today’s episode.

Now, That’s Unusual.

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To read all show notes and resources for this episode please visit: www.drgautamgulati.com/ep028