professionalism

Who Cares? Disagreeing with the Grammar Police

So yes, the title to this tip is a little misleading. But bear with me while I make a point. Because what I’m really addressing can make a big difference in perception. It’s a correction in the way we use words. It originally came from my dad who corrected me years ago. Always a stickler for usage, he brought me up short – and he was absolutely right! We were discussing what I considered to be his excellent care of […]

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What Independent Advocates Can Learn from Ambulance Chasers

attorney commercial

You know who they are because they are all over the TV, and billboards, too – ad nauseum – by the dozens, depending on the population size of the area you live in. In our area, there are at least a dozen different “personal injury” lawyers parading by us on TV commercials in any given week. I also see them on billboards, and on the sides of city busses. My reaction is always mixed – marveling at how many of

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Avoiding Email Address Dilemmas

In the old days when we had only a postal address – house number, street name, city, state (or province) and code – who ever could have anticipated the problems we experience with “mail” today? And by mail, I mean email. And by problems, I mean – so many of them! How can something seemingly so simple be so complicated? Here are some of the email dilemmas I hear about, or experience for myself, every day. I share them with

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Launching Your Practice with Your MVP (Probably NOT What You Think!)

MVP Minimum Viable Product

Anyone who helps a patient get what they need from the healthcare system is an MVP (Most Valuable Person!), especially in the eyes of patients and their loved ones. That’s probably the MVP you thought would be the subject of this post. Nope! Instead, in this post I’m going to feature a business concept called MVP, used by start-up businesses that are trying to determine when it’s time for them to launch. MVP as a Start-Up Business Concept As they

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Consider This: Giving Advice, Making Decisions, and Nuance

image - giving advice

An email from Helen, a soon-to-be independent advocate, posed this question to me: When I read the codes of ethics and best practices for advocates, I am clear that we can’t make decisions for clients. But how can I give them advice without sounding like I’m making a decision for them? Example: they asked me to find a neuro-oncologist for them. So I did. But now it seems like I was deciding which doctor they should see – making that

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