Beyond the Book Launch: The Visibility Mastermind Gets to Work
Ledbetter is a registered nurse, author, and founder of MAC Vernet Consulting. Her book explores the information healthcare systems often miss about patients’ daily lives.
The launch introduced the book. The Visibility Mastermind gave guests a chance to work through the issues it raises.
Cannabis Reveals a Larger Healthcare Problem
Many patients use cannabis for pain, sleep, anxiety, trauma, and other health concerns. Their cannabis use may never appear in their medical records.
Some patients do not tell their healthcare providers because they fear judgment. Others are never asked. Even when a patient shares the information, the provider may not know how to document it or use it in a care plan.
This can leave gaps in medication reviews, patient education, and clinical decisions.
Ledbetter believes cannabis gives healthcare leaders a clear example of a much larger problem. Healthcare organizations cannot act on information they do not collect or understand.
That idea guided the opening conversation with Ledbetter, Steph Sherer, Kimberly Roy, and Dr. Deanna Somers. They discussed the book and the responsibility healthcare leaders have to understand what happens in patients’ lives outside medical settings.
The conversation then moved from the main stage into four working groups.
Inside the Infrastructure Labs
Participants joined four Infrastructure Labs focused on Clinical Care; Education and Clinical Practice; Research, Data and Technology; and Policy and Community.
Each lab examined healthcare visibility through a different part of the system.
The groups discussed several questions. How should clinicians ask patients about cannabis? What should nurses and other healthcare workers learn? How can researchers collect better information about cannabis use and other health behaviors? What policies could help healthcare and cannabis professionals communicate?
The answers can affect patient care.
A patient may need a safe way to discuss cannabis use. A nurse may need education about possible drug interactions. A hospital may need a standard process for recording cannabis use. A policymaker may need stronger data about how people use cannabis and why they use it.
Subject-matter experts helped guide the discussions. Students and facilitators recorded the ideas, concerns, and recommendations shared in each room.
The labs helped participants identify gaps that often remain hidden inside healthcare systems.
Communities Need a Voice in the Process
The Mastermind included people from several parts of healthcare and cannabis.
Healthcare professionals shared their clinical experience. Researchers raised questions about data and evidence. Advocates spoke about the experiences of patients and communities. Cannabis professionals shared what they learn from serving consumers.
Retailers and brands also joined the discussion. They often speak with people who use cannabis for health reasons. These conversations may happen before a patient speaks with a doctor or nurse.
Their experience can help healthcare leaders understand what people are using, why they are using it, and what questions they have.
Media was also part of the discussion.
Jeremy Ortiz spoke about the growing cannabis media collective. Ledbetter shared how CashColorCannabis has supported her work as a media sponsor. She also explained why Black-owned media is important to the future of cannabis and healthcare.
Black communities experienced arrests, lost opportunities, and family harm during cannabis prohibition. Black-owned media helps document the people from those communities who are now leading businesses, research, education, policy, and advocacy.
That coverage can also help healthcare organizations understand the communities they want to serve.
The Work Continues
The ideas collected during the Infrastructure Labs will help shape a Healthcare Visibility report. The report will include common themes, recommendations, and resources from the event.
Participants will be invited to meet again on October 1. The work will also support the Massachusetts Healthcare Visibility Report event planned for October 22.
Ledbetter plans to use the Mastermind as an ongoing way to collect community knowledge and develop practical solutions.
Healthcare decisions affect people every day. Those decisions are stronger when they reflect the behaviors, experiences, and exposures that shape patients’ health.
Cannabis gives healthcare a place to start looking.
For the next two weeks, readers can receive 50 percent off the e-book and 20 percent off the hardcover and paperback editions of Healthcare Cannot Manage What It Cannot See.
