How to Be a Patient: The Essential Guide to Navigating the World of Modern Medicine

Did you know that patients have statistically better outcomes when their surgeon is female? That you can edit an informed consent sheet before you sign it? That there’s a blue book for healthcare procedures, or an algorithm to decide whether ER, urgent care, or waiting until Monday is the best choice?

In How to Be a Patient, nurse and public health advocate Sana Goldberg walks readers through the complicated and uncertain medical landscape, illuminating a path to better care.

Warm and disarmingly honest, Goldberg’s advice is as expert as it is accessible. In the face of an epidemic of brusque, impersonal care she empowers readers with the information and tools to come to good decisions with their providers and sidestep the challenging realities of modern medicine.

With sections like When All Is Well, When It’s an Emergency, When You’re Not the Patient, and When You Have to Stand Up to the Industry, along with appendices to track family history, avoid pointless tests, and choose when and where to undergo a procedure, How to Be a Patient is a timely and invaluable book for a new generation of patients.