Goodie Bags

A gold star to the first person to let me know the year when everyone going to a birthday party started getting a goodie bag.  When I grew up, if you went to a birthday party you were lucky if you walked out of there with a dry piece of cake and only a few bruises from the Pinata battle for tootsie rolls.  The healthcare system has seemingly followed suit.  I got a toothbrush, tooth paste, floss, sugar-free zollipops that limit cavities, and the time and date for an appointment to see an oral surgeon when I left the dentist office last week.  After my PCP visit, the doctor gave me a raffle ticket to win a heart healthy gift basket and list of freestanding imaging centers and a cost estimate for my likely uncovered coronary calcium CT scan.  And like those parties when all the kids walk out with custom gear, dad’s ophthalmology nurse gave him a T-shirt bearing the practice’s name and a warmed-up homemade blueberry muffin for the road – “and one to take home to your wife” she said, after his cataract surgery this week.  I’m not complaining – it’s a nice touch and perhaps the effort helps improve adherence with discharge plans.  Now that I say it, it would be interesting to study the effect of the goodie bag on adherence—like does this type of personal touch at discharge reduce the likelihood of post operative complications, limit readmissions, and drug interactions?  Maybe. For my family, I would argue yes, with the caveat that this trend is also making me hungry.