Journal of Women's Health Care
Open Access
ISSN: 2167-0420
ISSN: 2167-0420
Stephanie Arnold
AFE Survivor, USA
Scientific Tracks Abstracts: jwh
Patients sometimes know something is wrong with their health, yet clinicians aren’t always paying attention to what is being communicated. According to a General Internal Medicine study in 2020, physicians give a patient 11 seconds to speak before being interrupted. Sometimes drawing the wrong diagnosis. If a patient is able to advocate for themselves, they won’t be excluded from their healthcare decision-making. Research shows an extra 19 seconds with an educated consumer will save lives. For the past 8 years I have worked with clinicians and patients to understand the disconnect between advocating for yourself and being truly heard by your clinicians. I have hundreds of emails from people reaching out about how they knew something, they felt they weren’t heard, tried to share the information or regretted not speaking up. I’m here to change the conversation. You will never regret speaking up and being wrong, but you will if you don’t and you are dead right.
Pregnant with her second child, Stephanie Arnold had detailed visions and foreboding from the 20 week ultrasound to delivering her child. She told everyone. The test were normal, but she was not. She kept seeing she would die during the delivery. And the day she went into give birth, she fl atlined for 37 Seconds. The only reason she is alive is because one doctor, amidst the 10 consultations she had, truly listened and incorporated measures in the OR at the time of delivery and that is what saved her life. Stephanie is now an award-winning, international best-selling author and inspirational speaker on a mission to help others realize that fi nding your voice and advocating for yourself can not only enhance our lives, but can very well save them.