The Provider Empowerment Paradox:
Doing No Harm in the Age of AI
Project Overview
- This in-progress book project investigates doctors’ perspectives on the patient-provider communication crisis.
- It examines 50+ interviews with allopathic, osteopathic, and naturopathic doctors, dentists, nurse practitioners, specialty nurses, and physician assistants to learn about how they navigate barriers to connection and communication, including difficult conversations within short appointment times, the infiltration of Dr. Google and AI, and wariness around scientific expertise.
- This project has been supported by a UCF 2021 SEED grant, a 1-semester funded (competitive) sabbatical, and a residency at the Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities in Southern Pines, NC (November 2026).
Study Recruitment
I’m conducting a new study on how healthcare providers’ experiences—both with patients and as patients themselves—shape their approach to patient-provider communication. I hope that listening to providers’ stories will offer insight into how patients can build trusting, respectful relationships with their doctors, nurses, and other health professionals.
To participate, you must:
- Be a (MD/DO/PhD/DDS), NPs, PAs, specialty nurses, or holistic doctors
- Be age 18+
- Be comfortable speaking in English
The study involves a 1-hour long interview on Zoom or in-person at a location of the participant’s choosing.
or text (919) 438-3026
UCF IRB #STUDY00009092 (approved 4/7/2026)
The Patient Empowerment Paradox:
Lyme Disease Rhetoric and Contested Health Literacies
This book offers a new framework for understanding why arguments keep patients and their healthcare providers ensnared in debates about individual healthcare choices instead of working collaboratively on effective care. Using a mixed-methods approach, I follow the consequences of patient empowerment rhetoric on Chronic Lyme disease patients, showing how quickly patients become entangled in medical power dynamics, misinformation, and decision fatigue. The findings can help scholars and practitioners better navigate medical uncertainty around other chronic, contested conditions such as Long COVID and ME/CFS.
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