Christina's Considerations

Woodworking as Art Therapy: Getting Started

Did you know that Wood was the first drawing material? Wood, in the form of charcoal, was the first artistic medium. An example of cave art, using charred wood, at Rouffignac in France dates back 13,000 years. Kiln produced charcoal... Read more →

Effective Communication for Patient Safety

Medical errors, delays in care, bias and misunderstandings are most often the result in communication failures. In fact, most lawsuits filed by patients and/or their families are the result of communication issues that sometimes lead to poor outcomes. This is... Read more →

Is there actually CBD in the product(s) you purchase?

Cannabinoid products (CBD) are appearing everywhere and in different forms. We can find salves, chews, gummies, bath bombs, oils, concentrates and beverages on store shelves and online. While high quality CBD can be effective in addressing some of our health... Read more →

Hand Sanitizer: Non-Alcohol Options

These days there is a great deal of buzz about hand sanitizer. There are options to the traditional alcohol based products, or those you can make from home. One intriguing option is Clean Well, because my skin is really dry.... Read more →

Empowering Advocates: #ChronicTogether

I was recently asked how did I learn to advocate for myself as a patient. This made me reflect on my career in health administration, where I recognized the importance of patients advocating for themselves early in my journey. In... Read more →

During the holidays, free yourself and let go of what you can't control!

The holidays can be a stressful, sad and/or lonely time for some. This may be especially true for family caregivers who are trying to navigate through family gatherings with a loved one who exhibits challenging behaviors. My holiday wish is... Read more →

Chronic Illness Holiday Gift Guide: Top 5

Tis' the season of holidays and the giving of gifts. But, what do you get for someone with functional limitations caused by injury, chronic illness or aging processes? This year I've been keeping an eye out for a few items... Read more →

Canines N Kids - At the Hospital

I've been a delinquent blogger again, but have some new ideas.... and a few books to review. One of these books is "We'll Get Through This Together". It reminds me of the power of pet therapy in the hospital or... Read more →

Book Review: Choosing Joy with Alzheimer's

"Joy and woe are woven fine." - William Blake There is a wonderful book for caregivers that offers expert advice ... from a caregiver. It is focused on her experience caring for someone with Alzheimer's, however, the experiences and advice... Read more →

Showcasing Functional Limitation Aids

A little over two years ago I started researching tools to help me stay active in spite of new functional limitations. I looked for products to help me perform activities of daily living as independently as possible. As I progressed... Read more →

Safety Leadership: Overcoming & Avoiding Bias

Earlier this year I wrote an article for healthcare professionals on safety leadership. The idea is that scientific methods, standardization and reliability are not enough to reduce error and failure. Sometimes human performance in the actual environment of care is... Read more →

Avoiding Delays in Neurological Diagnosis - The 1.0 Version

It is commonly reported that Guillain Barre Syndrome (GBS), Acute Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyradiculoneuropathy (AIDP), Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyradiculoneuropathy (CIDP) and other variants are rare conditions. Data on the numbers of cases diagnosed are used to create rates among the general... Read more →

Three Summer Essentials from Nature

Summer brings heat and dryness that can be especially challenging to those with chronic illness and/or undergoing treatments and care processes. There are a few products that I've added to my personal lists of essentials for the summer. If you... Read more →

Job Description: Family Caregiver

The Health Affairs blog has an excellent post distinguishing between activities of daily living (ADLs)* and instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs)**. More importantly, A 21st Century Job Description for Family Caregiving explains why using either term in the context... Read more →

Summer Advice from 3 Experienced Caregivers

This guest post comes from Scott, Kristen and Patrick offer their experienced advice on some ways that people can step up to help the caregivers in your life rest, recharge, and maybe even relax. They are part of the Embracing... Read more →

CBD: neuroprotectant, cardio-protectant and antioxidant

My blog posts on CBD are some of my most popular. They helped me organize my thoughts on CBD, but I also want to hear what physicians have to say. Thus, my guest post today. It answers some of my... Read more →

Recording Physician Encounters for Patient Safety

After writing some professional articles, I translate them here for patients and their family caregivers. It isn't that I don't think readers will understand what I've written. Instead, as I've so intimately learned, patients and physicians have different perspectives and... Read more →

Telehealth for Rehabilitation

Early in 2018, I wrote about my first experience as a patient with telehealth. I was finally receiving the kind of care I had promoted as an administrator for so long and it was a pure pleasure. I often hear... Read more →

Comfort at home; or in rehab

Earlier posts have covered my suggestions for items to make a healthcare facility or hospital stay a little more comfortable. My post today includes items that could also be used in the hospital, but are more likely to be appropriate... Read more →

A New Normal - Administrator to Patient & Beyond

Three years ago, I decided it was time to walk away from my healthcare career and find something new. I was no longer being challenged and the long daily commute was wearing on my aging body. It was a hard... Read more →

Celebrating 420 with CBD

Last year, I celebrated my first 420 with a gift guide. Since then, I've continued to learn and test CBD for a variety of symptoms. I've also received great feedback from others who have tried the products. This year I... Read more →

Medications and Dry Weather

My mom first learned I had drier skin than most during one of my newborn visits. Dry skin and use of lotions and moisturizers has been a part of everyday life for me. Growing up in the humid south was... Read more →

Ghosting: Tips for when your doctor disappears

I recently learned about "ghosting patients" - a term used when patients find their physician (or other provider) has left a practice/clinic/medical group/hospital/etc and they don't know how to find them. This often happens due to some sort of separation... Read more →

Safety In Healthcare: Considerations for Consumers, Patients & Family Caregivers

Safety in healthcare has been around for a really long time. Florence Nightingale is sometimes referred to as "the mother of patient safety" because of her attention to healthcare design. In the 1800's, she advocated for improved ventilation and sanitary... Read more →

Does ALL CAPS still indicate screaming online?

In the early days of the Internet, typing in all caps was deemed to be rude and screaming during online conversations with others. However, is this really always or still the case? This question occurred to me after reading an... Read more →