Paging Dr. Within: How to Become, Be, and/or Make a “Patient Listener” and/or a “Super Symptom Checker”

By Tom Garz

As a Patient -

• Would you like a "Patient Listener"?
• Are you tired of Medicine/Treatment "Trial and Error", at your expense?
• Are you tired of being shuffled from one Doctor to another?
• Do you want to "get better" and "stay better"?

As a Doctor –

• Would you like more good information from Patients, relevant to their symptoms?
• Would you like to help Patients "get better" and "stay better"?
• Are you open to venturing out of your "comfort zone" in diagnosing and treating patients?
• Do you sometimes wonder if there is more to diagnosing/treating than what you were taught in Medical School?

As a Health/Medical Innovator, Inventor, Engineer, Writer, other Creative Person –

• Are you looking for some new ideas?
• Would you like to "Interface" with the "Dr. Within" each of us?

As an Insurance Company - 

• Would you like to "pay out" less?

If you answered yes to any of the above, maybe this book is for you.

This book describes the Concepts of a "Patient Listener" and a "Super Symptom Checker" – Human, Computer, and/or Computer-Assisted Human – Considering the "Big Picture" around Health and/or Symptoms.

This book is about 250 pages, a little over half written text.  The remainder contains many Reference Links, from which you can build upon and learn from.

The author of this book has set up Discussion Groups for this book to help others share, network, collaborate, etc.

***

Use of the Information in this book may help the Patient, Doctor, and/or Others "Get Better".

Some common Side Effects may include:

• A better understanding of what affects Health and Symptoms,
• Seeing the big picture surrounding Symptoms,
• Better health, less dependence on medication/treatment, generally "feeling better",
• Experiencing less perceived stress, more contentment with self and life,
• Perceiving more control of your life, in general, realizing there are always options no matter what,
• New insights on what could be done to make "it" better.

Note - Continued Use of the Information in this book may result in "Staying Better".

Ask your Doctor if "Getting Better" and "Staying Better" are right for you. :-)

• Language: English
• Publisher: TG Ideas LLC
• Release date: Mar 17, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393973287

Tom Garz

Tom Garz is an unusual author whose heartwarming journey of writing is both inspiring and empowering. Overcoming severe stuttering from a young age, Tom discovered he could express himself better through writing. Tom's books are a testament to his personal journey, offering healing and hope to those facing hardship. Drawing from his experiences with sickness, both his own and those of his loved ones, Tom's narratives inspire, encourage, and empower readers on their paths to healing and personal growth. His works provide valuable information and ideas while maintaining a clear distinction from medical advice. Tom also ignites creativity and innovation by “blurting out ideas” in his books and blogs. With a technical background and a passion for electronics and fringe science, he offers a wealth of knowledge to those venturing into uncharted territories. Tom Garz aspires for his books, enriched by his personal experiences and genuine care for others, to profoundly impact readers' lives. His works instill encouragement, hope, and ideas for leading more fulfilling lives – and exploring new frontiers! TG Ideas LLC - https://sites.google.com/site/tgideas/

Book preview

Disclaimers

Use of the Information in this book may help the Patient, Doctor, and/or Others Get Better.

Some common Side Effects may include:

A better understanding of what affects Health and Symptoms,

Seeing the big picture surrounding Symptoms,

Better health, less dependence on medication/treatment, generally feeling better,

Experiencing less perceived stress, more contentment with self and life,

Perceiving more control of your life, in general, realizing there are always options no matter what,

New insights on what could be done to make it better.

Note - Continued Use of the Information in this book may result in Staying Better.

Ask your Doctor if Getting Better and Staying Better are right for you.  ☺

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Seriously though....

This book is for information only and is not advice of any kind, especially not Medical and/or Legal Advice.  The author of this book is a Non-Professional.  Seek professional advice, as needed.  This book is meant to help, but using this information is at your own risk.  The author of this book has made efforts to make sure the referenced information is/was correct when the book was published.  Efforts were also made to avoid plagiarism in this book by the writer.  Any reference to any specific product or service is for information or example only and does not constitute or imply any endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by TG Ideas LLC.  TG Ideas LLC does not assume any liability to anyone and hereby disclaims any loss, damage, disruption from any errors, omissions, perceived or actual unintentional plagiarism, whether such are caused by negligence, accident, or any other means.  Additional Disclaimers are at https://sites.google.com/site/tgideas/ideas-for-products-or-services/disclaimer

Acknowledgments and Dedication Page

I really don’t know who wrote this book.  I just typed what was in my head.  It might sound like I know what I’m writing about, but I really don’t.  I’m not a Healthcare Professional or really a Professional Anything.  It seemed like I got insights from my Research and maybe from the Great Beyond and/or Universal Consciousness.  Anyhow, I’d like to thank all those who gave me the inspiration to write this book and the words to put in it, wherever and whoever they are.

I’d also like to thank all those who crossed my path in my life – all of them had Health – some had good health, some had not so good health.  I think I learned from them over the years and this knowledge is woven in this book.

Thanks also to the Universe for providing me with a good Technical Education, Experience, and Knowledge which is sprinkled in this book – and the Imagination to see What Else Could Be Done and/or How it Might be Better

Thanks to those who provided a base on which to build, e.g. What’s Been Done Before.

I’d also like to thank the many Healthcare Professionals who have helped me in my life – either directly or indirectly. 

Thanks also to my family and friends who continuously support, care, and encourage me.

Do I have everyone?  I hope so. 

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This Book is Dedicated to...

Sick People who want to get better – and stay better.  In addition, Sick People who don’t want to stay sick – and get sicker.

Doctors, Therapists, and others Helping Sick People get better – and stay better.

Patients who think no one listens to them.

Doctors, Therapists, and other Healthcare Professionals who want to be even better Doctors, Therapists, and other Healthcare Professionals.

Inventors, Engineers, Researchers, Sic/Tech Geeks, etc. –

Who want to make Devices, Apps, etc. to Diagnose and Treat the Body, Mind, Spirit – all at once;

Who want to make Devices, Apps, etc. to Listen, especially to Patients seeking Health Help.

Writers, Authors, etc. looking for fodder for their own writings.

Those who are looking to decrease Healthcare Spending, Minimize Medicine/Treatment Usage, and/or Maximize the Innate Healing Power of Patients.

Those trying to help all the sick people around the world using what the sick people have at hand – striving for free/low-cost Healthcare, 24/7, etc.

Those who want to peer into the possible future of Healthcare.

Those in Healthcare who might be interested and/or affected by new Technology, Artificial Intelligence, Empowered Patient Participation, those who self-diagnose (all of us ☺), etc.

Medical Students, Doctors, Patients who think there is more to Healthcare than what was taught, shown, and/or told.

Doctors who see me at my worst, struggling to figure out what I’m trying to say, review my history, and make sense out of me and my symptoms – even though there’s probably more to the story. 

To me, since I think it could be better – and I can only do so much myself.

How to Use This or Most any E-Book

Did you know you can use e-books in many ways, other than just reading from an e-book reader?

Yes, you can read my e-book on most any e-book reader.  I hope you like it and find it helpful.

You can print out a copy to use alongside my e-book, though the printout won’t have the hyperlinks that are in my e-book.  In addition, the print layout might not look the same, but it might suit your purposes. 

You could manage my e-book for your purposes with the open-source tool, Calibre. 

You can add your own personal notes and highlighting to my e-book, for your use, depending on which e-book reader you are using.

The hyperlinks were known to work at the time of publication. 

Due to the ever-changing environment of the Internet, the links might not work in the future. 

If this happens, simply copy the text and put quotes around the copied text, then do an Internet search.  The quotes tell the search engine to look for an exact match.  For example, if the link for Pulse diagnosis doesn’t work someday, then do an Internet search for Pulse diagnosis.  What you’re looking for will probably be near the top of the Internet Search Results.

The Chapter References provided in this book are by no means a complete listing.  Only a few references are provided for each chapter to illustrate the concept within the text.  If a particular reference is of interest to you, then just search for the title of the reference.  By doing so, you will find more like this.

Furthermore, in most of my books, Internet Search Strings are provided for your use.  If provided, use these strings as a start for you to find more like this.  Of course, you could modify the strings to find exactly what you’re looking for. 

References –

6 Android Ebook Reader Apps With Great Annotation Features

Beyond Highlighting: How to Get the Most From Your Annotations

The Simple Guide to Annotations: How to Annotate PDFs, Ebooks, Images, and Websites

Annotating & Highlighting E-Books

How to Print, E-mail or Save EBSCO eBooks Pages as a PDF

Calibre - E-book management and Calibre (software)

Popular e-readers

Comparison of e-readers

Comparison of Android e-reader software

Sigil (application)

OverDrive Media Console

What E-Reader Has Text-to-Speech?

Introduction

A Patient walks into a Doctor’s Office and the Doctor asks, How are you?  The Patient replies, It could be better.  The Doctor then Listens to the Patient’s Symptoms, Checks these Symptoms, then gives Advice accordingly – all in the span of 5-15 minutes.  I hope this Patient got better or at least got some relief.  Most of the time this works, e.g. colds, flu, skin rash, etc. – but what about those folks who just can’t seem to get better...or at least manage their symptoms?

If someone were to ask me about Current Healthcare – I would say, It could be better...then describe How.  This is what this book is about – my opinion on how Healthcare could be better.  I think if you ask others the same question, you’ll get other opinions.  I thought I’d put my ideas and opinions in this book for others to hopefully build on and/or pick apart - and/or maybe help them formulate their own ideas on how Healthcare could be better.

If you’re looking for a perfectly written and edited book – this ain’t it!  This book might be analogous to a patchwork quilt, hodge-podge of information and ideas, work-in-progress, etc.  I hope you can make sense of what I wrote and find it useful – or at least be a conversation starter.

This book is a "Straw Dog Proposal" on how I think Healthcare could be better. 

To further this discussion, I’ve started Facebook (FB) and LinkedIn (LI) groups for us all to use.  In addition, I also started a new blog on this topic, again to facilitate discussion, collaboration, brainstorming, etc.  The links for these are at the end of this book in the Appendix. 

Throughout this book, I’ll be referring to these FB/LI Groups as just Discussion Groups for you to share information, network with me and/or others, etc. 

I hope you all join.  We could use this book as a Conversation Starter.  I look forward to learning from you all.  ☺

Note - You might find my writing a little choppy since I typically just blurt out concepts and might not write as smoothly as others.  When I make a concept jump, I’ll preface it by a ********************, like below.

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Way back in 2008, I made a Blog Post calling for a Super Symptom Checker – a Wish List.  This post has had more hits than any other post I have made, so I thought I’d write a book expanding the concept.  Maybe now the concept is to make a Super Super Symptom Checker!  ☺

Then, I remembered another Blog Post I made about Patient Listener - New Medical Career Option? - How about outsourcing Medical Patient Listening?  This post was made because so many people complain of the Doctor not listening to them.  Again, this book is also an expansion of my Patient Listener concept.

When you think about it, a Doctor could be viewed as a Symptom Checker and sometimes a Patient Listener.  From that, it made sense to me to show How to Become, Be, and/or Make a Patient Listener and/or a Super Symptom Checker". 

This book covers a wide path involving humans and/or machines.  Perhaps the essence of this book is having a Patient Listener/Companion and/or a Mobile/Ambulatory/Wearable Symptom Checker – focusing on catching things early, e.g. Prevention – and also providing the Patient with the best Quality of Life they want on an ongoing basis.

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Please note that when I use the term machine, it could mean an actual Machine, e.g. Robot, etc. – or it could mean a Computer Application, e.g. Chabot, Avatar, Online Symptom Checker, etc. – or it could mean something else.  Machines and Computers are one thing.  Humans and other Living Creatures are another thing.

The PL/SSC Concept could be either Machine/Computer and or Human.

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From now on in this book, I’ll use the broad term PL/SSC that could mean a Patient Listener (PL) and/or a Super Symptom Checker (SSC). 

There could be a Patient Listener (PL) by itself;

There could be a Super Symptom Checker (SSC) by itself;

In addition, there could be a PL/SSC combination in one.

Expanding this PL/SSC Concept...

There could be a Human Patient Listener (PL) and/or Super Symptom Checker (SSC);

There could be a Computer Patient Listener (PL) and/or Super Symptom Checker (SSC);

There could be a Computer-Assisted Human Patient Listener (PL) and/or Super Symptom Checker (SSC).

I say it repeatedly in this book that the Patient is in full control of how much or little of the PL/SSC they want to use.  The PL/SSC concept is meant to be helpful for Patients, Healthcare Professionals, and others – not to make the Patient get better and/or stay better.  The patient is going to do what they’re going to do (free will) – with or without a PL/SSC, Doctor, etc.

We’ll see what happens...

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Here’s what a PL/SSC could do for Patients...

In essence, the PL/SSC is Paging the Dr. Within each of us!

Provide a Patient Listener that will listen as long as the Patient wants it to.  The PL/SSC is fully customizable and will do as much or as little as the User wants it to do.

Provide a Super Symptom Checker that could work in conjunction with the Patient Listener – plus take into account any other data, sensor information, etc. the User/Patient allows to consider in Checking Symptoms.  Again, The PL/SSC is fully customizable and will do as much or as little as the User wants it to do.

The PL/SSC could provide possible diagnoses just like existing Symptom Checkers do; only the PL/SSC looks at the Big Picture beyond the Reported Symptoms, e.g. What else is going on that might be causing/aggravating Symptoms. 

The PL/SSC could provide ongoing Advice/Coaching/etc. to help the User actually get well and stay healthy – Body, Mind, and Spirit.

The PL/SSC could find the root causes of the Symptoms if the User cooperates and allows this function.  Again, The PL/SSC is fully customizable and will do as much or as little as the User wants it to do.  Similar to Doctors, the PL/SSC will work with as much data, information, etc. the Patient allows.

Continuous regular use of the PL/SSC could help the Patient’s Doctor figure out what is really going on and treat the Patient better.

Using the PL/SSC, especially with a Doctor (if available), could reduce Doctor’s visits, reduce medicine/treatment usage, and reduce costs.

You don’t have to be a Patient to use the Computer/Internet version of the PL/SSC either, just like existing Symptom Checkers and/or Chatbots.

Interested?  - As you go along in this book, you’ll find more on how the PL/SSC could help Patients (You?) get healthy and stay healthy.

Here’s what a PL/SSC could do for Doctors and other Healthcare Professionals...

Depending on what the Patient allows, the PL/SSC could help fill in the blanks when Diagnosing and/or Treating.  The Patient’s regular use of the PL/SSC could provide a "longitudinal study", much like a Holter monitor. 

The PL/SSC could provide way more than just snapshot Vital Signs.  As you will see in this book, the PL/SSC could give the Doctor, and Patient, a Summary of what else is going on around the Symptoms or in other words Symptoms in Context.  Of course, it would be up to the Patient whether to share this information and how much information, with a Doctor.  This big picture of information could help you, as a Doctor, Diagnose and Treat the Patient Better.

Doctor’s use of a PL/SSC could act as a Coach, Reminder, or Ongoing Second Opinion for Differential Diagnosis, etc. – if the User/Doctor allows this to happen.  The PL/SSC could monitor/coach on Bedside Manner, monitor/advise of the Doctor’s own health to be of maximum service to the Patient (not fatigued, burned out, etc.), alert Doctor if/when Physician Bias is triggered, stress occurs, etc.  Again, the PL/SSC is fully customizable and will do as much or as little as the User wants it to do.  Doctors might consider using a PL/SSC themselves to be the Best Doctor they can be!  – All for the good of the Patient – and maybe for self-growth.

Read on in this book to find out how this could work for you Doctors and other Healthcare Professionals, if you are interested.

Here’s what a PL/SSC could do for Patients and Professionals, together as a team...

If both the Doctor and Patient both use a PL/SSC, this might improve Doctor-Patient Relationship – perhaps due to both being more transparent and truthful with each other – if the Patient and the D

Here’s what a PL/SSC could do for Parents of a Sick Child...or a Caregiver for Someone Sick...

Anyone wearing/using a PL/SSC could ease the mind of another in charge of the care of another person.  There could be alerts, constant contact with Healthcare Professionals to help monitor, advise, just listen, etc.

The Parent/Caregiver could use a PL/SSC to monitor/track/inform/advise/etc. of their own health – to prevent undue fatigue, burnout, etc.

Here’s what a PL/SSC could do for Health Insurance Companies, National Health Insurance, and/or Universal Health Care, e.g. Medicare, Veterans Health, etc.

The Use of PL/SSC by people has the potential for those people to actually get healthy and stay healthy.  Wouldn’t that be a good thing for Health Insurers?  – so they don’t have to pay out so much and so often.

Here’s what a PL/SSC could do for Society as a whole....

Again, The Use of PL/SSC by people has the potential for those people to actually get healthy and stay healthy.  Wouldn’t that be a good thing for Society as a whole, throughout the World? 

People even study the Sociology of health and illness.  Maybe these folks might be interested in the PL/SSC concept in its various forms – Human, Computer/Internet, Computer/Internet assisted Human.

Hmmmm....what will we talk about if we don’t talk about our Health/Symptoms, Cost of Healthcare, Availability of Healthcare, etc.?

Here’s what the PL/SSC Concept could do for Health/Medical Innovators, Inventors, Writers, Authors, and other Creative People....

The PL/SSC Concept seems like a new Concept, though it isn’t.  It just builds on previous existing concepts and pulls them together into one Concept.  Voila!  – The PL/SSC.

The PL/SSC Concept could be achieved by Humans (People), Computers/Internet, and/or Computer Assisted Humans (People). 

The PL/SSC Concept could be used with, without, and/or in conjunction with Healthcare Professionals. 

The PL/SSC Concept could be Face to Face Interaction, Person to Computer/Internet, Computer/Internet Assisted Person, Interactive Kiosk, or anything else anyone can think of – and sometimes available free of charge 24/7. 

The goal of the PL/SSC Concept is to make it available to everyone worldwide – whether they use it or not is another thing. 

Does all this tickle anyone’s Creativity?  I hope so.

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Sounds great, doesn’t it?  Well....there’s a catch here....it’s not fully in practice today. 

There are pieces of it all over the Internet and even going back to the beginning of time – but nowhere yet is there a fully functional Patient Listener and/or Super Symptom Checker.  I’m trying to change that in writing this book and providing tools for you all to network, participate in the design, collaborate, give your opinions, etc. in the Implementation of the PL/SSC Concept (or not). 

Let’s speed up to today and see what might be done to Implement the PL/SSC Concept.  In essence, this book shows what’s been done before and what else could be done.

Chapter 1 shows What affects Health Symptoms.  This chapter is a start list of what Inputs could be included in a Super Symptom Checker.

Chapter 2 looks at the Bigger Picture, beyond just Symptoms, into how the Mind/Body/Spirit all affect Health Symptoms.

Chapter 3 is a Special Chapter on Stress, especially Negative Stress since it Causes/Aggravates many Health Symptoms.

Chapter 4 looks at what Patients want most – A Patient Listener.  We’ll look at how this Patient Listener could be a Person, a Machine, and/or a Person-Machine Combination.

Chapter 5 describes what’s been done before in Symptom Checkers and the like.

Chapter 6 gives some ideas of what a Super Symptom Checker might look like, features, and appearance.

Chapter 7 continues where Chapter 1 leaves off, giving more ideas on what Inputs could be added to a Super Symptom Checker.

Chapter 8 is a Special Chapter on finding out what makes a patient tick since I think this is very important in Diagnosing and Treating the Patient as a Person.

Chapter 9 gives ideas on what could be Outputs from the Super Symptom Checker.

Chapter 10 gives a framework for a Person to Become and/or Be a Patient Listener and/or a Super Symptom Checker.

Chapter 11 shows ideas on how to make Patient Listener and/or a Super Symptom Checker (Machine).

Chapter 12 gives some insights into how the Implementation of the PL/SSC Concept could occur.

Chapter 13 is a Conclusion of this book – pulling it all together. 

The Appendix consists of each Chapter’s References, Search Strings, and More. 

Please be sure to check out all the References for this book to give you background information. 

If you think this book is far out in the future, just check some of the References and you will see that there are similar concepts being done today!  It's just a short leap from today to the PL/SSC concept tomorrow, from what I can see.  We can build on the work of others – and make new and better!

Note – If you are working as a group reading this book, I suggest splitting up into teams, each covering a portion of each chapter’s References – then get back with each other to review what you have learned.  By doing this, each Chapter will probably make much more sense to you.

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Ending this chapter, you’ll see later on in this book that the PL/SSC has no dividing line between Physician | Pharmacist | Psychologist – and is open to any and all healing modalities – whatever works for the Patient is best.  Wait and see!

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By the way, I have an ulterior motive for writing this book.  I hope this book might lead us all to Interfacing with the Doctor Within.  I started this Blog to encourage using science to record and explore the intuitive messages the body, mind, and spirit are trying to tell us about our health and health of others.  I personally think there is a wonderful healing mechanism inside each of us that knows exactly what is going on all the time and making corrections to maintain optimum health.  I don’t know how to access this Doctor Within directly and am hoping someday we’ll have an On Board Diagnostic Connector of some sort, similar to automobiles.  This Connector would communicate directly to perhaps the Central Nervous System, CNS, to see what’s going on inside