Today my interview with Susan Weiner, MS, RDN, CDE, CDN, was published in Endocrine Today. It centers on what changes when we aim to help people with diabetes flourish with the condition, and how to do it.

Excerpt:

(HCPs) are often inspired and find it (the Flourishing Approach) both innovative and common sense. I’ve presented the approach worldwide and facilitated workshops in the U.S., including at the American Association of Diabetes Educators annual conference and American Diabetes Association chapter conferences. After I described the approach in Bangalore, India, a dietitian came running up to me after her patient left. Almost giddy, she said, “My patient and I couldn’t stop smiling the whole visit. For the first time I didn’t push him like I usually do, and he’s eager to take the next step he himself came up with.”

As health care moves increasingly toward industrial care – standards, mechanistic, averages, big data and rushed – we need to remember that people are not machines. Patients do best when they feel safe and connected to their health professionals.

My dearest hope is that we begin to move back to embrace those “old-fashioned” values of truly seeing each other, listening and demonstrating our caring.