[ARCHIVES] Jargon and the Bastardization of “Patient” (2019)
“Patient” has become a meaningless label now derivative of consumer prejudice. It starts the entire narrative off negatively and completely marginalizes and obfuscates reality. Hell, everyone is a “patient.” And when everyone is a patient, then no one is.
These days, it’s just too easy to get sucked into jargon for the sole purpose of sounding like you know what you’re talking about. Several of my colleagues who share the same sentiment would personally like to see us shift the mindset around this.
The challenge is how to reconcile the aspiration to rethink the word “patient” with an audience that thinks in these terms 24/7 and yet who still needs to engage the advocacy / KOL segment of this community differently.
When it comes to “shit we didn’t ask for,” like cancer, those moments are the most terrifying. We don’t CHOOSE this, and THAT is when we, as consumers, enter a consumer healthcare marketplace that we have never experienced, done no preemptive consumer research on (e.g., reading Yelp restaurant reviews before choosing a dining experience), and have few if any federal or state consumer protections to guarantee choice and safety.
“Man, I can’t wait to get cancer and somehow enroll in a clinical trial no one’s ever heard of, that I should probably know about, and that I can in no way afford.”
SAID NO ONE EVER.
So let’s call a spade a spade.
Someone, please give me examples of a conference you’ve attended that yielded tangible, measurable, longitudinal outcomes which saved a patient some money, made a patient aware of a trial or a gene sequencing option, got a young woman fertility preservation for free, or created a non-competitive widget that accelerated something good.
Bonus points if the said event has any of the following words in its name: “Digital, Pharma, Patient, Participation, Advocacy, Engagement, Centric, Centricity, Voice, Insights, Outcomes, Experience, Summit, Expo, or Conference.”
I challenge the Patient/Pharma eventscape to rethink its purpose, goals, objectives and measured impact.
What are you trying to achieve? What is your end game?
Wrapping up, if you’re going to use the word “patient” for sheer exploitation, that’s fine, but know that we all see through it. In the immortal words of Vanessa from Deadpool, “Kiss me like you miss me.” Or don’t kiss me at all.
Once again, the American healthcare consumer is at the mercy of a system and the people who run it, nearly all of whom are private sector businesses and institutions for whom the bottom line isn’t always our well-being and personal interests.
When was the last time you walked into a doctor’s office, be it primary care, an oncologist or a Parkinson’s specialist, and the first words out of their mouth were, “What’s the most important for you today?” Seriously, tell me. It’d be nice to talk about it.
It’s time to disrupt all of this.
It’s time for a consumer health revolution from the ground up.
