Radnor Studio 21 Premieres Health Care TV Series This Weekend

Radnor Studio 21, Radnor's local cable access channel, is debuting a 50-episode series on health care issues this weekend.

Dr. Nancy Valentine, R.N. is a program that seeks to "help people effectively navigate the healthcare system and have a voice in making healthy choices for themselves, family and community."

The show airs at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday's episode is Emancipation Proclamation: How Patients and Families Can Take Leadership for their Care. Guests: Dr. Victoria Rich and  Mary Walton, HUP

Sunday's episode is Tort Reform-What Price for Justice? Guest: Dr. Peter Kowey, Main Line Health, Lankenau Hospital, Wynnewood, PA

You can watch the half-hour long programs on Comcast and Verizon cable channel 21. 

Episode Details

Emancipation Proclamation: How Patients and Families Can Take Leadership for their Care

Dr. Victoria Rich

Chief Nurse Executive, University of Pennsylvania Medical Center ,

Associate Executive Director, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania  Associate Professor, Nursing Administration, University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing                      

Mary Walton

Mary K. Walton, MSN, MBE, RN is the Nurse Ethicist and Director, Patient and Family Centered Care at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.         

This show highlights how things inside hospitals are changing as enlightened organizations such as the  Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania have moved to develop a Patient and Family Centered Care program that invites former patients and families to be directly involved in improving hospital operations. Some organizations resist taking such steps, thinking  that they are already doing a good job and resist the idea of patients "telling them what to do".  Dr. Rich and her associate, Mary Walton have broken new ground at HUP and tell the story of how they established a program that is reaping positive results and why you as a consumer should expect that hospitals where you are receiving care should have such programs in order for you, as the patient/family member,  "have a voice".

The three key point that they will discuss are:

1. Patients-See yourself as a member of your health team-you are the expert on YOU!     

2. It is your RIGHT to have a support person with you throughout your hospital stay. Identify someone who you trust and who will work with you and the nurses and physicians.             

3.  Seek to work in PARTNERSHIP with hospital staff-you need their expertise. They want what is best for you and have the knowledge and skills that you need.

Tort Reform-What Price for Justice?

Guest: Peter R Kowey, MD, FACC, FHRS  Chief, Division of Cardiovascular Diseases, Main Line Health System, Bryn Mawr, PA

Professor of Medicine and Clinical Pharmacology

Jefferson Medical College

Chief, Division of Cardiovascular Diseases, Main Line Health System

The William Wikoff Smith Chair in Cardiovascular Research 

Lankenau Hospital and Medical Research Center

Wynnewood, PA

Dr Kowey has written several fictional books on Tort Reform and it is his professional passion to make this issue more meaningful to people. He is a very conversant guest who will bring this issue down to earth and interesting as to how we can entertain alternative s to the system of redress that currently exists in the United States. The three key points that Dr Kowey will discuss are:

1. The tort system in the US is responsible for a large percentage of unnecessary testing and treatments.

2. Tort reform is possible and is already in progress in many places in the world.

3. The public has a poor understanding of the realities of medical practice and his first book, Lethal Rhythm, was written to give the public a window into the REAL medical world.