Healthcare for Humans
A Blog by Wingspan Health
Discover more of our articles, lists, and tools to navigate healthcare.
How to Get a Patient Portal
A patient portal is a website or app by your doctor or any healthcare provider where you can see information from your electronic medical record.
What is an EMR in healthcare?
EMRs (electronic medical records) are the technology behind the patient portals you use at your doctor that lets you access your medical records online.
What is Deadnaming?
Deadnaming is referring someone of their former name without consent and is a painfully accurate example of why design matters in healthcare software.
How to Answer: “Are You Sexually Active?”
Are you sexually active? It’s a complicated question, but “sexually active” does mean any kind of sex act with all sex partners.
How to Answer: Do You Smoke?
When doctors asks you "do you smoke?" they are looking to see if you've had more than 100 cigarettes in your lifetime.
What are DNR orders?
DNR means "Do Not Resuscitate.” It instructs healthcare providers not to do CPR if a patient's breathing stops or if the patient's heart stops beating.
What is an HMO?
HMO stands for health maintenance organization and has to do with healthcare insurance for select providers (not related to HBO).
Snake Oil & Snake Oil Supplements
Snake oil has often been referred to as a euphemism for deceptive marketing, healthcare fraud, or scam. However, the original snake oil actually worked.
Does BMI Matter?
BMI is a measurement invented in the early 1800s by a mathematician as a tool to talk about weight in the overall population - not individuals.
Everyday Health Myths
You’ve probably heard one or many of these on any given day – here is Wingspan Health’s compilation of health myths. How of these do you still believe?