A few years ago, we wrote YOU: The Owner’s Manual, which taught people about the inner workings of their bodies—and how to keep them running strong. But you know what? There’s a big difference between an adult’s body and your body, between adults’ health mysteries and your health mysteries, between their questions and your questions. So, teens, this book is for YOU. We’ll talk to you about the biological changes that are happening in your brain and your body. We’ll show you how to get more energy, improve your grades, protect your skin, salvage more sleep, get fit, eat well, maximize your relationships, make decisions about sex, and so much more. In fact, in these pages, we answer hundreds of your most pressing health-related questions. And you know what else? We are going to treat you like adults in one very important way: We’re not going to preach. We’re going to give you straight-up information that you can use to make smart choices about how to live the good life—and enjoy every second of it. Starting right now.
We wrote YOU: The Owner's Manual to help everyone understand that 70 percent of how long and how well you live is in your hands. But we wanted to go one step further and move you from just knowing the rules to really understanding how your body works. And we realized that if we bottled the 'eureka moments' and irreverence that medical school teaches, you might really enjoy the artistry of the inner workings of your body (we included cartoons so guys would understand). But The Owner's Manual was limited: folks whose lives were already touching the health care system needed advice to best navigate that serpentine path. We realized that a 'Smart Patient' was essential to realizing the promise of 'The Owner's Manual'. Luckily for us, the Joint Commission, our nation's health care safety advocate, approached us to help with a BIG problem. Medical errors in hospitals cost us 98,000 lives per year, and the Joint Commission could not squash this crazily large number without making all patients allies in this fight.
Being a Smart Patient means you've passed a stringent exam (well, a fun but informative quiz, anyway), and you know things that the vast majority of other patients do not. We learned a lot from this process of writing, and share all we knew beforehand and learned:
' You'll know why you need to include your spouse in your health history, even though there's no blood relation.
' You'll know why you should always be one of your doctor's first appointments of the day.
' You'll know which hospital staffer you should always talk to before choosing a surgeon (hint: it's the anesthesiologist).
' And you'll know why you should never touch the TV remote control in your hospital room.
The book debuted at #2 on the NY Times list, so some must at least like the jokes, or the cartoons (we understand an insurance company doesn't care for the one on page 333), or the insights combined with an encyclopedic list of trustworthy resources.
It's a scary statistic, but it's true: you have a 2 in 5 chance of being affected by a major medical complication in your life. And even the best doctors using the most cutting-edge technology can't prevent it. Yet that's the unrealistic expectation. The unsettling reality is that health care has become so complex it is no longer possible for any one doctor or other health care provider in the system to manage the whole process unless they have a partner. And that person is YOU.
The following insider tips are just a taste of those we crammed into You: The Smart Patient. We hope that this book will inspire and empower YOU to get involved in your health care.
Just the Facts, Ma'am
The first sign of a Smart Patient is that telltale document they produce during their first visit, or even their 50th. It's their health profile. This is the sign of a patient who means business, one who will challenge us to be at our absolute best and who won't waste time and money on redundant and unnecessary efforts. To create the perfect health profile, circa early 21st century, find the sample form labeled Your Health Journal. These forms are also online at www.jcrinc.com and www.realage.com.
Have a Tattle Plan
Bring your spouse or advocate to your doctor's appointment when you're giving your health history; there are a lot of questions that only he or she can answer. But, please, before coming in to the office together, make sure you discuss which fibs you're going to tell. Why? Because when you tell us that you've been taking your cholesterol-lowering drugs with the discipline of a Marine, your spouse will shoot you'or us'an involuntary look that communicates something close to Are you kidding me? We never miss it. And sometimes your spouse is trying to give your fibs away: it's called love.
