Dear Santa:

My Christmas wish this year is that you will provide everyone with their very own personalized care plan for their health and well-being for life. I know it sounds like a huge undertaking,?but it would be great for everyone to have a road map to follow to create the best path for a good, healthy life.?

And, if it seems too much to have care plans for when people are healthy and not thinking about chronic disease, cancer, or trauma, could we please help overwhelmed patients understand what to expect for disease progression, goals, and treatments and how they can help?when they are faced with disease. ?And, what if a care plan could address disease prevention and wellness? Be still my heart.?

So, as?I was getting ready to describe my idea of a perfect care plan, I remembered that GoInvo has?already done that!??Care Plans (goinvo.com)

My only 'must have' for the?perfect care plan is that it would go from cradle to grave for a person. With the technology we have today, it could be done!?

GoInvo notes that 'Care plans are comprised?of the universal components of a health history, health concerns, goals, instructions and interventions, review, and the care team. While care plans share these components, they can address a multitude of content areas such as nutrition, physical activity, medication management, and more. Certain content areas are more important to some patients than others.?

?Care Plans (goinvo.com)?has the full story. Their introduction to the problem:?

“Overwhelmed. It is how most patients feel at one point or another as they leave that sterile-smelling, fluorescent-lit doctor’s office. They have just spent 10-25 minutes being hastily examined, diagnosed, and, if they are lucky, educated about how to address their medical problem. They either leave the office empty-handed, or they walk out holding a generic pamphlet, which will likely end?up under an unmanageable pile of papers or in the trash. Unless there was a major change in their treatment plan, many patients go home, forget what the doctor ordered, and continue on?their usual journey of whatever harmful behaviors landed them at the doctor’s office in the first place. And without a clear, tangible plan for how to better their health, how are they supposed to behave any differently?”?

And their best goal from my perspective: “we aim to encourage health policymakers to both establish?a care plan database and?examine the cost of incorporating care planning into standard practice. Only in a new era of digital, standardized, adaptive care plans can we truly promote preventative self-care.”?

Since their Care Plan Series is so comprehensive and thoughtful, I won't go on except to acknowledge my personal interest in this topic. When I worked at Elsevier Solutions, I was amazed at the work that went into the clinical practice guidelines and care plans created by the Care Plan group. And, as much as I was impressed with their work it was only when I encountered the care I received for breast cancer that I came to realize how necessary, useful, and dare I say, comforting, a good care plan would be. And, as a 7-year cancer survivor, I must say that I felt?I had exemplary care?but I honestly, truly, would have benefitted from a care plan - before, during, and after my extensive care needed.??

And, I will sign off with a tip of the hat to Regina Holliday who painted a Walking Gallery jacket for me that shows me holding up a road map. Not sure about that loosely tied johnny back but you get the point. Patients need and want road maps. Give me a TripTik!?

(BTW, Let Patients Help?is a good book?and a mantra for those of us who want to be active participants in our care.)?

Signed, Pat Sutton

P.S. Put me on your 'nice' list!

?