Just What the Doctor Ordered

I was pleasantly surprised by Julia Hotz’s The Connection Cure. Rather than the self-help book the title might imply, this is a thorough and highly readable account of a quiet revolution in thinking among health care professionals that's providing benefits not only to patients but to healthcare systems themselves in multiple countries.

The revolution goes by the name of “social prescribing”. In essence that means that when you go to the doctor with a complaint, he our she listens for clues to the context in which your complaint arises. Is there a lot of stress at work? Have you recently gone through a major life change like a job loss, a relocation, a divorce, or the death of a loved one? Are you feeling lonely, depressed, anxious?

Then the doctor may give you a “social prescription”, perhaps along with a prescription for medicine as well.

In countries where social prescribing has taken root the next step will involve a visit to a “link worker” who will tailor the prescription to what matters to you. Prescriptions tend to fall into five categories - movement, nature, art, service, and belonging. They all involve a social component as well. Think joining a group of runners, or a group of birders.

The key though is that the link worker and doctor stay in the loop. There is feedback, and measurement. And the measurements have shown, over time, that this approach actually works. Patients feel better. Repeat visits to the doctor drop, saving time and money for the healthcare system.

Countries that have adopted some form of this formalized process of social prescribing, covered in the book, include the UK, South Korea, Singapore, Portugal and the Netherlands. Social prescribing projects are popping up in the rest of the EU too. It's catching on in Canada and Australia. And a dedicated group of health care professionals are working to broaden it’s foothold in the United States.

The book provided plenty of examples of patients who've benefits from a social prescription. Many are focused on the benefit to mental as well as physical health, or deal with aging patients. It's not meant to be an approach that is applicable to every patient in every case.

Hotz also digs into the history of the practice. Turns out social prescribing comes out of the UK. It's not surprising then that one of the touted benefits is to the medical system itself. The UK’s socialized National Health Service is notorious for highly stressed doctors and long wait times for patients. Social prescribing makes for healthier, happier patients who require fewer return visits, benefiting both their doctors and other patients.

At the end of the book the author takes us through how she was inspired by her research to apply some of the principles of social prescribing to her own life and how it's impacted her. This is a rather short section of five brief chapters, but full a of insights.

RATING: Four Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐

RATING COMMENTS: Surprisingly good book that covers the rise of “social prescribing” and it's benefits to patients and to healthcare systems themselves.

WHERE I GOT MY COPY: I received an advance reviewer’s copy from LibraryThing courtesy of publishers Simon & Schuster. The book is available now in hardcover, paperback, ebook and audiobook.