10. The healthcare resources you need are beyond the scope of the doctors and hospitals in your proximity. If you are in the 20% of the population who live in a rural area in the US, or maybe your health problem is more unique, the healthcare providers in your smaller urban area might not have the experiences, resources, and capabilities that your condition requires. 9. You need a second opinion. But kind of like the situation above, if that opinion is not available where y

Dear Dr. P, Ten months ago, I first met you on a telehealth visit, as I was referred to your care by one of my favorite physicians, electrophysiologist Dr. Z. I needed a cardiologist to follow my case after having undergone a robotic completion pericardiectomy in March. At the time of this first visit with you, I really didn’t need much of anything, just to establish care and continued prescription for a diuretic to use as needed. At the time of the visit, you seemed confused

Yesterday was pregnancy loss day. I dedicate this story to Murphy baby #2 who I will meet someday and hold in my arms in heaven, and to all of the other tiny babies whose heartbeats were heard only by their loving mommies, but whose bodies never had the opportunity to feel their mother's touch. It was the week before Thanksgiving when I made a calm, yet slightly anxiety-inducing call to my OB’s office to report some spotting after my early morning run. I was still quite early

According to Reuters, the average physician visit lasts 20 minutes. That’s the average. We know that some visits can be as short as 2 minutes, or as long as an hour or two. Since it will be difficult to predict which extreme or average your next doctor’s visit will be, it’s a good idea to be prepared when you have something very specific on the agenda. Here are the top 10 tips on how to make the most of your time with your healthcare provider. 10. Provide all previous records

The numbers are staggering. In the US, between 250,000-440,000 people per year die as a result of medical errors, and they are the third leading cause of death. And quite honestly, these are the numbers that were reported or counted as such (guaranteed to be exponentially higher because their is no mandatory error reporting system in hospitals or hospital systems). Between trying to stay alive and stay out of debt from the high cost of healthcare, it is time to become your o

While it is nearing the 4th of July, with red, white and blue stars and stripes waving in the breeze, my I Had a Dream story is nothing like the one you are thinking of. No, it was a random dream that came the night before a simple medical test for my diaphragm this week, to confirm that one side of the diaphragm and thus the lung is not working correctly since a phrenic nerve injury sustained from a life-saving heart surgery three months ago. Since I was living and all, an

It was an unusual and unexpected hospitalization at Froedtert, affiliated with the Medical College of Wisconsin, in Milwaukee, so maybe I should have expected an unusual experience. But I hadn’t. I had trusted that I was in good hands, being at the state of Wisconsin’s premier academic medical center. But it didn’t go down that way. I had gone to the ER for fevers, drenching sweats, and a re-occurrence of sternum pain that indicated to me that my osteomyelitis (bone infection

Since the debut of my author website, DrJillMurphy.com, there have been a host of popular questions about me, my practice in the medical field for almost 20 years, and the odd intersect of being both a patient and a Doctor of Physical Therapy. So here are some answers to the first set of burning FAQs. Why did you write a book about your healthcare experiences? Part of my job duties as a licensed healthcare professional is one that is never talked about publicly, but it’s to k

The moment is indelibly imprinted on my brain, the setting an in-patient hospital room. I had spent the night in the Houston hospital after having my second heart ablation the day before, a radiofrequency ablation for my inappropriate sinus tachycardia and for focal atrial tachycardia I didn’t even know I had. I was happy to see my electrophysiologist that morning, because, quite honestly, I had a few questions. I wanted to better understand what my heart was doing, so I coul

This is a question patients ask me so often, I really don’t bat an eyelash at the query. Whether it’s a surgical consult, or a different specialist for which a direction of treatment is at a critical impasse, you the patient should feel ultimate security in both the treatment (surgery or not) and the provider providing or supervising that treatment. If you are looking around for other providers to see and/or you are losing sleep at night doing Google searches on alternative t

Twenty basic rights every patient deserves to receive in every clinician interaction in every US healthcare setting. 1. The right to consultation with a new clinician free from bias from other interactions with previous clinicians. 2. The right to have at least one friend or family member present at all times to advocate for the patient in the out-patient and in-patient setting. 3. The right to be listened to without interruption until the entire story is told. 4. The right t

Sept, 2018: As we head into fall (already?!), here in the Murphy household we are still recovering from our crazy and unexpected summer. My kids are abuzz over how many last-minute trips they took, even if almost all of them ended at the same destination (they believe Rochester, Minnesota is the neatest city ever). They also think it was somehow fun to drive all the way to Cleveland in one day and then back again to Rochester just four days later. At least someone was having