The Invisible Patients: Life at the Edges of the American Health Care SystemPublication Date: 2016
This is the story of Jessica Macleod, a nurse practitioner, and four patients she cares for in their homes. With her laptop, satchel and stethoscope, Jessica makes house calls, typically seeing 8-10 patients per day, many of whom live at the outer edges of our healthcare system, unable to visit a doctor's office due to a combination of multiple chronic conditions, functional impairment, and poverty. Jessica's work often places her in the center of important healthcare issues facing our country - how to take care of people who fall through the cracks, how to navigate end-of-life care, the confusing maze of health insurance, the burdens placed on families, and the emotional toll on the nurse practitioners like Jessica who often find themselves in dispiriting situations. These stories reveal the emotional as well as the financial burdens created by our current system, and cry out for solutions. It's clear that nurse practitioners like Jessica represent one answer. The Invisible Patients asks us all to wrestle with not just healthcare policy, but as importantly, how to mend today's fraying social fabric. (Runtime: 89 mins.)
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