Effective communication is a lot of work… and it’s harder when you’re sick. Get to know your disease, the words, and the treatments. Become assertive. Be your own cheerleader. In these education articles you will find tools to be more effective and assertive in asking for the care you need and deserve.

Even if you are alone or have few people in your life, there are ways to assertively plan for the team you will need during serious illness.

A notebook, used well, can save you significant time, stress, and missed information and appointments. It may even save your life.

Plan ahead and write down what you need to talk to your healthcare team and physicians.. If you don’t know what is most important, give your practitioner your list and have them ‘triage’ your concerns.

If you’re already doing all that’s being suggested, but you are hitting a wall – or being denied care – strongly consider finding a healthcare advocate (a friend or a professional) to help you. Your advocate should meet certain criteria.

Miscommunication – but most often missed-communication – at all levels of the healthcare are so common that incidents are dismissed and just considered normal.

Avoidable failures are common and persistent, not to mention demoralizing and frustrating… The reason is increasingly evident: the volume and complexity of what we know has exceeded our ability to deliver its benefits correctly, safely and reliably. Knowledge has both saved us and burdened us.

If you found this education article, it’s likely that you’re very upset right now. No one looks for this information until something has gone very wrong with the healthcare that you or a loved one is receiving. In order to get the best resolution – and to actually be paid attention to and changes made – there are very clear steps that need to be taken.

This is an extension of the last education article, How to Make a Complaint in BC. The Resources are listed in order of priority and sequence.