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How to Be a Patient: The Essential Guide to Navigating the World of Modern Medicine
From registered nurse and public health advocate Sana Goldberg, a timely, accessible, and comprehensive handbook to navigating common medical situations. From the routine to the unexpected, How to Be a Patient is your ultimate guide to better healthcare.
Let’s face nobody likes going to the doctor. It can be uncomfortable, nerve wracking, expensive—and that’s just for routine care! When it’s an emergency—how do you choose between the ER, Urgent Care, or waiting-until-Monday? And for everything in between, how do you get an accurate diagnosis and timely treatment when something is off? In How to Be a Patient, registered nurse and outspoken public health advocate Sana Goldberg provides readers with an honest guide to the complicated and often-intimidating medical landscape.
At once a quick-reference pocket guide and a lifelong framework for approaching your healthcare, this invaluable resource empowers readers to take charge of their wellbeing. It lifts the veil on a complicated, fractured system, giving patients the tools communicate with its players and sidestep its most vexing realities. Warm and trustworthy, Goldberg’s advice is as expert as it is easy-to-understand, as she calls on years of first-hand nursing experience to help readers confront challenges, take advantage of opportunities, and maximize insurance resources while fending off hidden fees that slip by unnoticed.
From setting yourself up when all is well and making the most of routine appointments, to understanding hospital culture for a more positive experience, How to Be a Patient is relevant for readers at any age. With sections including When It’s An Emergency, When It’s Chronic, When You Have to Stand Up to Insurance, and When It’s Your Person, Goldberg ensures patients have what they need in their hands to feel informed and confident as they move through the world of modern medicine.
Containing glossaries of medical jargon, lists of free, essential screenings and unnecessary medical tests, as well as helpful appendices to assist patients in tracking their family history, prescriptions, and more, How to Be a Patient is a must-have book for anyone invested in their long-term health.
Let’s face nobody likes going to the doctor. It can be uncomfortable, nerve wracking, expensive—and that’s just for routine care! When it’s an emergency—how do you choose between the ER, Urgent Care, or waiting-until-Monday? And for everything in between, how do you get an accurate diagnosis and timely treatment when something is off? In How to Be a Patient, registered nurse and outspoken public health advocate Sana Goldberg provides readers with an honest guide to the complicated and often-intimidating medical landscape.
At once a quick-reference pocket guide and a lifelong framework for approaching your healthcare, this invaluable resource empowers readers to take charge of their wellbeing. It lifts the veil on a complicated, fractured system, giving patients the tools communicate with its players and sidestep its most vexing realities. Warm and trustworthy, Goldberg’s advice is as expert as it is easy-to-understand, as she calls on years of first-hand nursing experience to help readers confront challenges, take advantage of opportunities, and maximize insurance resources while fending off hidden fees that slip by unnoticed.
From setting yourself up when all is well and making the most of routine appointments, to understanding hospital culture for a more positive experience, How to Be a Patient is relevant for readers at any age. With sections including When It’s An Emergency, When It’s Chronic, When You Have to Stand Up to Insurance, and When It’s Your Person, Goldberg ensures patients have what they need in their hands to feel informed and confident as they move through the world of modern medicine.
Containing glossaries of medical jargon, lists of free, essential screenings and unnecessary medical tests, as well as helpful appendices to assist patients in tracking their family history, prescriptions, and more, How to Be a Patient is a must-have book for anyone invested in their long-term health.
496 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 19, 2019
64 people are currently reading
574 people want to read
About the author
Sana Goldberg
1 book2 followersSana Goldberg, RN, liaises between academia and clinical practice. She has worked with a diversity of patients across settings from the perspective of researcher, social worker, nurse, and provider. An outspoken public health advocate, she’s presented at World Congress, TEDx Harvard, The Society for Neuroscience, and OPHA, with work published in Neuropharmacology, and The European Journal of Neuroscience. She is the recipient of the Diamond Alumni Award, a member of the International Honor Society of Nursing, and the founder of Nightingale, a movement of story, art, and activism for health equity. She practices in New Haven, CT, while pursuing graduate studies at Yale.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
February 5, 2024
Skimmed through this at a library just looking for sections that were relevant to my own health conditions and experiences. There was some good stuff about how to book doctor appointments quickly, how to ask good questions before surgery, and how to avoid wild medical goose chases. I doubt that the book would be as fun to read thoroughly. I think it's better to use it like a dictionary or encyclopedia.
October 27, 2022
This book brought my confidence in my ability to navigate the medical world from a zero to a 75, out of 100 that is. It is clearly written and simple enough for a layperson unaccustomed to doctor/hospital visits to comprehend and follow. I’m grateful for this minimally biased, information-packed practical guide. I feel empowered not only to be my own advocate in these settings but also advocate for my loved ones and to work with medical providers better to find the best solutions posible.
January 30, 2019
This book should be required reading for everyone that has or will be taking on the wild morass that is the healthcare system. Reading that line, that probably is all of us. Sana Goldberg RN has put together a guidance system to help us through in this book. Her vast knowledge as a practicing nurse on the front-lines is valuable information that will save money in determining what is really necessary and at what cost. Taken one step further it may even save lives by the practical advice on avoiding the dangers one is exposed to in the hospital environment that is supposed to fix us.
Every topic imaginable is dealt with here, and it is vast. From understanding symptoms to taking on big pharma, and big insurance. Each topic opens up many subtopics to contend with, and all are explained insight-fully and proactively. Much attention is paid to communication which seems to be key to understanding the whys and wherefores of complex treatments and procedures. What to ask and when. Being assertive without being obnoxious.
It is the type of book that might take several readings to soak in all that is necessary to understand. It will also serve as a go to reference as medical needs arise and in tackling the many aspects of health that will come with ageing. In essence a useful book that will benefit anyone concerned about their healthcare and well being. And that anyone should be everyone.
Every topic imaginable is dealt with here, and it is vast. From understanding symptoms to taking on big pharma, and big insurance. Each topic opens up many subtopics to contend with, and all are explained insight-fully and proactively. Much attention is paid to communication which seems to be key to understanding the whys and wherefores of complex treatments and procedures. What to ask and when. Being assertive without being obnoxious.
It is the type of book that might take several readings to soak in all that is necessary to understand. It will also serve as a go to reference as medical needs arise and in tackling the many aspects of health that will come with ageing. In essence a useful book that will benefit anyone concerned about their healthcare and well being. And that anyone should be everyone.
August 13, 2019
I had the opportunity to get a copy of this book from the publisher because the author is an alumnus of the school where I work. We invited Sana to do two book readings.
I enjoyed this book for its ease of use. It's meant to be a guide and for the reader to skip around in it. I liked her practical and no-nonsense approach on ways to optimize the care you receive and it prompted me to start figuring out who to add as my PCP.
I recommended the book to my Mom as well.
I feel fortunate to have met the author, who is a humble and thoughtful individual. I hear she will soon have a series on NPR and I'll be tuning in to that.
Good read!
I enjoyed this book for its ease of use. It's meant to be a guide and for the reader to skip around in it. I liked her practical and no-nonsense approach on ways to optimize the care you receive and it prompted me to start figuring out who to add as my PCP.
I recommended the book to my Mom as well.
I feel fortunate to have met the author, who is a humble and thoughtful individual. I hear she will soon have a series on NPR and I'll be tuning in to that.
Good read!
July 7, 2019
I had already started proselytizing to everybody I talked to about this book before I’d even finished it. The American medical system can do amazing things, but it’s also deeply flawed in a myriad of ways, and your life, or the life of a loved one, is most likely going to depend on being able to navigate it at some point. Here is so much practical insider information I found myself marking it up and making notes right from the first chapter. I learned so many things I wish I’d known years ago!
May 15, 2019
As an RN myself, I was excited to read this book. It was good enough, until I got to pages 134-135, which included inaccurate information which shows the inherent bias of the author.
July 2, 2020
Buy this book now.
On the How To Be a Grownup bookshelf every person should have, there should be at least three titles: something on how to cook some basic food, something on personal finance, and Sana Goldberg's How To Be a Patient.
This book literally covers all the things that most people don't know, or that they only know if they've got a smart doctor (or three) in the family or if they were raised by a parent who REALLY knew their stuff. I'm in the latter category, and I've had my fair share of dealing with the medical establishment for acute and chronic conditions, so I would say this is the book I would have asked to have been written.
Goldberg covers everything, in appropriate (but not confusing) detail: how to be your own health advocate, how to select primary care and other health care providers, how to prepare your own medical records and documentation (like advanced care directives), the basics of pharmacology, how to get better care from a biased system, how to talk to healthcare providers to be heard, how to navigate screenings, vaccines, chronic and emergency care, how to prepare for a procedure or hospital experience...and more!
Written for the patient, but with care advice for partners, families, and friends, this book manages, in one volume, to provide more essential advice than I've ever seen in one place, and does it well. There's even a section for handling insurance and financial issues, and appendices on everything from vaccine schedules to the types of free screenings available under the ACA.
Finally, Goldberg gets extra points for acknowledging the need for special guidance for healthcare issues when the patient is not a straight white mail (in other words -- most of the time). From pain and the gender gap to gender differences in the presentation of heart attacks, to LGBTQ issues, to how implicit bias and systemic oppression can stymie the patient experience (to the point of endangering lives) and how to counteract that bias and oppression.
Get this book, read it, put tape flags or bookmarks at the sections to which you know you'll need to return again and again. If I could give this more than 5 stars, I would!
On the How To Be a Grownup bookshelf every person should have, there should be at least three titles: something on how to cook some basic food, something on personal finance, and Sana Goldberg's How To Be a Patient.
This book literally covers all the things that most people don't know, or that they only know if they've got a smart doctor (or three) in the family or if they were raised by a parent who REALLY knew their stuff. I'm in the latter category, and I've had my fair share of dealing with the medical establishment for acute and chronic conditions, so I would say this is the book I would have asked to have been written.
Goldberg covers everything, in appropriate (but not confusing) detail: how to be your own health advocate, how to select primary care and other health care providers, how to prepare your own medical records and documentation (like advanced care directives), the basics of pharmacology, how to get better care from a biased system, how to talk to healthcare providers to be heard, how to navigate screenings, vaccines, chronic and emergency care, how to prepare for a procedure or hospital experience...and more!
Written for the patient, but with care advice for partners, families, and friends, this book manages, in one volume, to provide more essential advice than I've ever seen in one place, and does it well. There's even a section for handling insurance and financial issues, and appendices on everything from vaccine schedules to the types of free screenings available under the ACA.
Finally, Goldberg gets extra points for acknowledging the need for special guidance for healthcare issues when the patient is not a straight white mail (in other words -- most of the time). From pain and the gender gap to gender differences in the presentation of heart attacks, to LGBTQ issues, to how implicit bias and systemic oppression can stymie the patient experience (to the point of endangering lives) and how to counteract that bias and oppression.
Get this book, read it, put tape flags or bookmarks at the sections to which you know you'll need to return again and again. If I could give this more than 5 stars, I would!
March 25, 2019
Reading and discussing this book with my husband and a sick friend or two, has already changed several decisions in my life and there will surely be a ripple effect. One in particular: always take someone else with you to visit a doctor. I've been taking notes for a sick friend and we listen differently. I'm not interacting with the doctor - I'm taking notes and this changes what I hear and what she hears.
I've also decided to change doctors, based on her recommendations. That could have far-reaching consequences.
The websites are not as helpful as I had hoped. Possibly things change too quickly to keep up, but we did find a few of them worth the price of admission.
I've also decided to change doctors, based on her recommendations. That could have far-reaching consequences.
The websites are not as helpful as I had hoped. Possibly things change too quickly to keep up, but we did find a few of them worth the price of admission.
April 18, 2019
Interesting book that answers a wide variety of questions, including bacterial vs viral, or when to go to your primary care doctor vs an Urgent Care center vs the hospital, etc.
There are lists of things, like ways to describe pain, factors to consider if you think a person is delirious, things to take when you have to go and stay in a hospital, etc.
There are also appendices for things like a CDC Pediatric Vaccination Schedule, Routine Exam Schedule, a list of the titles of Common Hospital Staff, Medical Jargon, Free Screenings and Services, Useless Tests (this was most interesting), and more!
At the end of this book are notes and an index.
There are lists of things, like ways to describe pain, factors to consider if you think a person is delirious, things to take when you have to go and stay in a hospital, etc.
There are also appendices for things like a CDC Pediatric Vaccination Schedule, Routine Exam Schedule, a list of the titles of Common Hospital Staff, Medical Jargon, Free Screenings and Services, Useless Tests (this was most interesting), and more!
At the end of this book are notes and an index.
July 21, 2022
Useful, probably, but leaves me feeling a bit hopeless at being able to navigate the U.S. healthcare system if I'm aging alone. It seems like even being in the hospital requires taking an active role in your healthcare. My overall takeaway is: you need to recruit someone to be your healthcare advocate, so that they can be there to ask questions and guide treatment when you're too sick to.
This book could be used as a reference, but I think it'd be easier to print out Goldberg's lists of questions for specific situations (i.e. interviewing a new PCP, discussing a potential operation with your provider, or developing your elevator pitch for an office visit) and keep those handy instead.
This book could be used as a reference, but I think it'd be easier to print out Goldberg's lists of questions for specific situations (i.e. interviewing a new PCP, discussing a potential operation with your provider, or developing your elevator pitch for an office visit) and keep those handy instead.
August 20, 2023
Are you about to have a procedure done? Do you have an elderly friend or family member that interacts with the medical field frequently? Or are you like me and extremely frustrated with trying to understand insurance and how it works? If yes to any or more of these types of questions, then I would recommend this book to you. It has a wonderful flow and does not drag on medical studies or terms to confuse you, instead it is more like a handbook with resources on how to navigate the medical world. It is full of helpful tips and tricks on how to make the most of any encounter and how to be heard and understood as not only a patient but most importantly as a human being.
December 6, 2024
This book is exactly what the title promises, rich with information about how to absorb medical information, but not much in the way of narrative, context, stories or any of the other ways nonfiction authors make their work compelling. To be fair to the author, that is not her intent. But to be fair to the reader, it’s great information, told non-compellingly. I’d recommend it for what it is (and have since bought a copy for my reference shelf), but not for the general reader. With so much good information to convey, and plenty of potential stories to illustrate her facts (which she does from time to time but not enough), I was little disappointed that it wasn’t better.
Grade: B-
Grade: B-
October 7, 2019
What a great book! Of course we need to know how to be highly effective patients. The information presented is very useful but there is so much of it. I would love to have the same information contained in a very well designed app, so that I can find it when I need it.
Brava, dear Sana Goldberg, and thank you. But give us a rest on being politically correct and woke. We may disagree with you, however much we love and respect you.
Brava, dear Sana Goldberg, and thank you. But give us a rest on being politically correct and woke. We may disagree with you, however much we love and respect you.
December 1, 2019
This is an essential guide to navigating the U.S. Healthcare System successfully in spite of all the barriers, flaws, and challenges. From finding the right provider (with a run down with different types and models), to resources to help find affordable options, to navigating the even more complex world of mental health care, to the importance of not neglecting eye and dental care, this book is an amazing resource everyone needs. As a breast cancer survivor, I'm glad to have it at my side to help me navigate my ongoing care. Definitely recommend!
June 15, 2019
It was more or a resource guide than a book. I definately learned a few things about our healthcare system (i.e. insurance, providers, and procedures) like I didn't even know placing a stent for coronary artery disease hasn't been shown to be an effective procedure in treating the disease! This book will be a quick and easy guide for the future, I really like all the resources and websites the author put in the book. Overall, an average book, which isn't bad.
June 30, 2019
I recently made the decision to begin a journey to become a nurse. Because of that I've had medical things on my mind. I also recently had some irregular blood tests that made me realize I needed to be vigilant with my health. This book has some amazing information an guides you step by step on how to approach all interactions in the healthcare field. I learned a lot and will definitely keep this book as a reference source.
August 3, 2025
I actually love it, so I love appendices like CDC’s pediatric vaccination schedule, Medical jargon, What type of patient am I, etc. I also love chapters like ER vs urgent care until Monday (chapter 14), When it’s your kid (chapter 23), How to talk to providers (chapter 7), etc, and sections like When you’re not the patient, When you’re having a baby, When it’s an emergency, etc. So this is a valued guidebook for the patients and their loved ones.
June 30, 2019
A definite must read for anyone going to the doctor or into the hospital. As someone who’s chronically ill myself and who’s learned to navigate the healthcare system, even I learned many new facts and tricks to navigate today’s murky, messy healthcare system. This and Maya Dusenbery’s Doing Harm are absolutely must reads for those who are chronically ill.
January 15, 2023
Very practical book with helpful insight. I appreciate her realistic view and validating the experience minorities and women receive. I was hoping for not advice around how to talk to doctors when they are not responding well in the moment of an appointment but otherwise, very thorough. The information on how to advocate for the financial part of the medical system was new and helpful, as well.
September 3, 2019
Stumbled upon at the library.
Very well written and easy to read for non-healthcare people.
A lot of very good, up-to-date information.
I could easily use this to teach a class.
Navigating healthcare today is not easy! This is a great guide.
Very well written and easy to read for non-healthcare people.
A lot of very good, up-to-date information.
I could easily use this to teach a class.
Navigating healthcare today is not easy! This is a great guide.
October 12, 2019
3.75 - great resource for those not familiar with the foreign language of modern day healthcare. Good helpful tips, a little preachy and political (even if I am “the choir”), and full of suggestions to complete a task “over a beer” or a split of champagne.
May 17, 2022
This book was very informative and insightful, not just on how to be a patient but how to communicate with a patient as a provider. This book is loaded with information and useful “on the go-knows” that I know I’m going to need in the future (ex:insurance)
September 25, 2022
Very dense but comprehensive book on how to navigate medicine from a non-medical perspective. I liked it, but there was a lot of emphasis on the patient having to do extra work to ensure proper medical care.
October 26, 2022
Really wanted this to be great and it had some sparks, but it was a lot of opinion and not as much strategy as I hoped. Still a great topic and maybe if I read it with a different lens’s I would have received more from it.
November 13, 2024
Excellent resource. I wish the author acknowledged that doing all these things is unlikely for most people, and thereby offered a simplified, shorter version. But I cannot deny the incredible value of this book, for both patients and caregivers.
January 4, 2019
Maybe useful for someone who needs help being assertive about their health. Pretty sure that’s not me.
June 10, 2019
Definitely a really informative book that gives lots of insight over various topics!
July 25, 2019
Everyone should read this book.
August 4, 2019
ESSENTIAL read for anyone involved in the American health system. I finished this book feeling tremendously empowered and with a wealth of resources to take my health and put it in my own hands.
October 28, 2019
Author is right in that the health care system is a bear to navigate, but her expectations of what a patient/caregiver should do is excessive.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews