Additional Credits and Funding:
Hosts: Dr. Dan Gottlieb and Maiken Scott
Timely on:
October: Could be a great companion program to the PBS series "Remaking American medicine"
Tones:
Engaging,
Informational,
Real
Language:
English
Description:
Do you feel like your doctor isn't really listening to you? Are Hospitals safe? How do healthcare professionals feel about the system they work in? What can be done to provide quality care to all Americans?
"I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug." From the Hippocratic Oath, Modern version
The state of healthcare in America is usually summed up in numbers; over 98,000 Americans die as a result of medical errors each year, The Center for Disease Control estimates that as many as 2 million people contract infections from hospitals yearly, and 100 million Americans are affected by chronic diseases. But at the heart of these terrifying numbers is a relationship, one that was once regarded as untouchable.
The relationship between patient and healthcare professionals is historically based on mutual trust, on benevolence, the desire to heal, and the desire to get better.But today, growing numbers of patients complain of hurried doctors who don't listen, and overworked staff members who don't have time to take care of most basic needs. Patients feel that they have to take charge of their own medical care and records, while arguing with their insurance companies about which treatment they should be getting.
Doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals complain of unmanageable demands in the work place, emotional stress, understaffing, and mountains of paperwork that keep them from spending time with patients.
How did this happen, and what can be done?
Hosted by Dr. Dan Gottlieb and Maiken Scott, the WHYY one-hour radio documentary "Healing Healthcare" explores the relationship between healthcare professionals and patients. We'll hear from policy makers, administrators, patients, families and healthcare professionals. "Healing Healthcare" also follows medical students as they learn what it means to be a healer, patients who become advocates for a better approach to medicine, and physicians who are trying to transform the health care system.
Dr. Dan Gottlieb is a family therapist, and host of the award-winning weekly WHYY call-in show "Voices in the Family." He is the author of "Letters to Sam." Maiken Scott is an award-winning producer of two WHYY programs. She has produced and hosted many national specials, most recently "Childhood Lost and Found."
If you are a double licensee, "Healing Healthcare" is an ideal radio companion to the four-part PBS documentary "Remaking American Medicine" (Coming to stations in early October) Of course, this radio documentary stands on its own as a in-depth look at healthcare, healing, and the human side of medicine.
