The Power of One Patient Voice

Recently, Ananth Ravi, my colleague and Chief Science Officer at MOLLI Surgical, posted a tweet that best describes what we are striving to accomplish — improving the patient experience for breast cancer patients.

It made me think back to the journey that resulted in the founding of MOLLI Surgical. MOLLI® started with one voice — a patient who shared feedback with her hospital’s PFAC (Patient Family Advisory Committee) about her experience with wire localization used for her breast-conserving surgery. Wire localization utilizes a wire to help surgeons locate and remove non-palpable tumors.

That patient’s feedback led to a discussion among Dr. Calvin Law, Chief, Odette Cancer Centre, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, and his staff where they resolved to find an alternative to using wires to locate tumors. The extensive development that followed led to the invention of MOLLI.

Thanks to that one patient voice, millions of women are going to benefit from MOLLI localization’s enhanced patient comfort, convenience, and peace of mind through better accuracy.

“I saw the value of sharing the patient experience. We are the experts in living with breast cancer…we have to be part of the conversation from the very beginning, you can’t just tell (patients) at the end what they need,” said Julia Maues, who lives with metastatic breast cancer, in this episode of my weekly Facebook Live show, Breast Practices.

Julia will be among several patients and advocates who will be recognized in a soon-to-be launched MOLLI Surgical initiative called H.O.P.E. (Help-Optimism-Positivity-Encouragement)™, where we will honor patients who have shared their personal stories of care so others can benefit from their experiences. H.O.P.E. is intended to also amplify physicians’ patient education efforts and support breast cancer patients in their care decisions.

My colleagues and I at MOLLI Surgical are grateful to the patients and advocates who share their stories. They inspire us and we are committed to listening and learning from them. I encourage other women who are undergoing treatment to share their experiences with their hospital PFAC and give back to future patients for better care.

It only takes one voice to create meaningful change for many people.

Published by:

Fazila Seker

Pres. & CEO at MOLLI Surgical, dedicated to bringing people together for impact in healthcare through medical devices.

What can we do to better support the treatment of aging women in #healthcare? Read my latest blog entitled, “Invisible No More – Aging Women and the Healthcare System” with MOLLI Surgical. #bcsm #BCCWW #patientcenteredcare #patientcare #breastcancer #medtwitter #medicalinnovation #healthequity #racialdisparities