When her mother entered the hospital, DNP, RN and nurse educator Ruth Tarantine expected to navigate the health care system with ease. She was an insider with decades of experience. But the obstacles her family faced during their two-and-a-half year fight to honor their mother’s wish to survive were shocking. In “AGAINST ALL ODDS: How To Move from Provider-Centered Care to Patient-Centered Care,” Tarantine shares how they learned to prevail, giving a detailed plan of action that provides power, knowledge and hope for anyone caring for someone in the health care system.

The family succeeded in advocating for their mother to become the first person in the state of Pennsylvania to receive home hemodialysis with a tracheostomy in place. Despite doctors telling them there was no hope for recovery, their mother was enjoying life. Tarantine attributes her family’s success to relentlessly following specific practices. These practices are powerful—and they are available to any family.

The family learned that relying on our broken health care system could be disastrous. One day Tarantine found her mother lying in a hospital bed with no identification band on her body. She remembers thinking, “This is why people die in hospitals.” She also came to the staggering realization that 39 health care providers could potentially write orders on her mother in any given week. She kept a binder filled with her mother’s records, test results, prescriptions and provider contacts. She was appalled at how many times she was the only one with the correct information.

Many of the things that happened to her mother are termed “Never Events” by the National Quality Forum of the United States. A Never Event is an inexcusable serious mistake that should never occur in a health care setting.

In “Against All Odds,”Ruth Tarantine shares practical lessons for your journey toward health care that meets your needs and provides the highest quality of life along the way.