The Bottom Line
By Jill V. Ruffman, PhD, and Marjorie B. Sladek, MBA, PMP; 158 pages. Subtitle: How to Manage Your Child's Critical Medical Needs - A Guided Journal for Parents and Child Advocates
Don't let the word "journal" put you off. This handy spiral-bound book is less about sharing your feelings -- although there's room for that -- than about asking questions of medical professionals, recording their answers, and working your way through the process of learning and preparing and advocating. You'll never forget a question or an answer again.
Pros
- Easy to follow format leads you through the notes you need to take
- Handy size fits easily in purse or pack
- Filled with excellent questions gleaned through parent experience
- Allows you to show journal to those who need to know or confirm your impressions
- Creates an indispensible record to past procedures
Cons
- I suspect that if you asked all the questions here, you wouldn't be the most popular patient parent
- Boxes with personal experiences from the Sladek family are all but illegible
- You'll have to buy a new book for each procedure
- Jokes are well-intentioned, but maybe unnecessary
- Ditto the puzzles for the waiting room -- nice thought, but you better be bringing more with you
Description
- Introduction
- Chapter One: Let's Get Started
- Chapter Two: Identify Your Options
- Chapter Three: Agree to a Treatment Plan
- Chapter Four: Understand Your Treatment Plan
- Chapter Five: Take Action!
- Chapter Six: Let's Go Home!
- Chapter Seven: Keep On Journaling
- Appendix A
- Appendix B
Guide Review - Book Review: Now What Do We Do?
Parents of children who are going through a medical emergency or a serious course of treatment have a hard job: They have to be comforting, nurturing and brave for their child at the same time they're grappling to understand complicated medical information, communicate with professionals and family members, juggle bills and insurance forms, and, oh yeah, deal with emotions and fears of their own.
This book aims to make all that a little easier.
It's certainly true that taking a moment to think things through and write them down can help. And the guides provided throughout this easy-to-use notebook remind you of all the things you wanted to request, remember, record, research, and round up. From preliminary plans to second opinions to post-op instructions and prescription progress, the completed guide will serve as a helpful handbook now and a vital history later on.
One added benefit is that, instead of asking questions or trying to think of all the things you need to say, you can simply turn this book over to nurses or doctors or family members or advocates and let them read, absorb, and add to what you've written.
Among the useful features are a table of contents that helps you find the form or section you need easily, and an appendix with additional blank forms you can copy as needed. The pocket in the back makes it easy to gather papers and prescriptions and business cards where you won't lose them. I also appreciated the bits of family history from Marjorie Sladek, whose experiences with her own sick child inform this book, but I wish they hadn't been in feathery type against a gray background.
Ideally, you'd hope never to have cause to use a book like this. If you do, though, you'll be glad to have it.
