Patient Knowhow

Patient Knowhow is a United States-based global health company headquartered in San Mateo, California. It operates an online platform whose stated mission is global health: using the Patient Knowhow platform, researchers and doctors from around the world discover the best patient education on YouTube and related research on PubMed. The company aims to uncover the most reliable and easy-to-use information about disease prevention, transmission, causes, and treatment. The platform is closely associated with the research and public writing of Devabhaktuni Srikrishna, who is identified on the company's website as a contact for submissions and who co-authored much of the pandemic-control research and commentary listed by the company. Patient Knowhow's work spans two connected areas: patient education and information-seeking research, and applied research on global pandemics, diagnostics, and respiratory protection. On the patient-education side, the company publishes and links research on how patients, parents, and caregivers seek information, including work on navigating biomedical literature on PubMed and on tracking updates to scientific papers. On the pandemic-control side, Patient Knowhow has produced and promoted research publications and op-eds on controlling pandemics, with contributions appearing in outlets such as Harvard Business Review, The BMJ, The Lancet, The Lancet Infectious Diseases, The New York Times, and PLOS ONE. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Patient Knowhow became known for its practical guidance on high-fit/high-filtration ("hi-fi") masks. Its homepage explains that SARS-CoV-2 and its variants such as Delta travel in the air and collect indoors, spread by aerosols that are exhaled and inhaled — airborne transmission — and that the risk of infection can be greatly reduced by masks that meet or exceed N95 standards. The site highlights five key protective attributes: high filtration, superior fit, durability, breathability, and quality control, and stresses that "no fit no filtration." It lists off-the-shelf options such as N95 and elastomeric N95 (eN95) masks, notes NIOSH-approved masks as validated by the US government, and discusses testing and valves. Patient Knowhow and its partners have discussed hi-fi masks in news items in CBS News, the Boston Globe, Marketplace Radio, CNN, Stat News, Harvard Business Review, and The Washington Post. The company is a private entity and does not appear to be listed on a public stock exchange. Its audience is global and online, consisting of patients, caregivers, clinicians, researchers, and journalists seeking trustworthy, easy-to-use health information.

Patient Knowhow is a United States company headquartered in San Mateo, California, operating a global health platform. Its public mission, as stated on its website, is global health: using the Patient Knowhow platform, researchers and doctors from around the world are discovering the best patient education on YouTube and related research on PubMed. The company aims to uncover the most reliable and easy-to-use information about disease prevention, transmission, causes, and treatment. The platform's research output is closely tied to Devabhaktuni Srikrishna, who is listed as the public contact on the company's website and who co-authored many of the studies and commentaries the company highlights. Patient Knowhow's research spans two areas. The first is patient education and information-seeking: the company links research on how patients, parents, and caregivers seek information, including work on using noun phrases to navigate biomedical literature on PubMed and on how many updates to scientific papers are being lost track of (Srikrishna D, Coram MA, PLOS ONE, 2011). The second is global pandemics and diagnostics, with publications and op-eds on pandemic preparedness, Zika, Ebola, and immunoassays. Among the pandemic-related works the company lists are "The World Is Completely Unprepared for a Global Pandemic" (Ranu S. Dhillon, Devabhaktuni Srikrishna, David Beier, Harvard Business Review, March 15, 2017); "Containing Zika while we wait for a vaccine" (Ranu S. Dhillon, Devabhaktuni Srikrishna, Ashish K. Jha, BMJ, January 30, 2017); "The Fight Against Zika Can't Wait for a Vaccine" (Ranu S. Dhillon, Devabhaktuni Srikrishna, David Beier, Harvard Business Review, August 18, 2016); "Overlooking the importance of immunoassays" (Ranu S. Dhillon, J. Daniel Kelly, Devabhaktuni Srikrishna, Robert F. Garry, The Lancet Infectious Diseases, October 2016); "Testing for Ebola" (Ranu S. Dhillon, Devabhaktuni Srikrishna, Robert F. Garry, The New York Times, February 9, 2016); and "Controlling Ebola: next steps" (Dhillon RS, Srikrishna D, Sachs JS, The Lancet, October 18, 2014). During the Covid-19 pandemic, Patient Knowhow became widely referenced for its guidance on high-fit/high-filtration ("hi-fi") masks. Its homepage explains that SARS-CoV-2 and its variants such as Delta travel in the air and collect indoors, spread by aerosols that are exhaled and inhaled — airborne transmission — and that the risk of infection can be greatly reduced by masks that meet or exceed N95 standards. The site identifies five key protective attributes: high filtration, superior fit, durability, breathability, and quality control, and stresses that "no fit no filtration." It lists off-the-shelf options such as N95 and elastomeric N95 (eN95) masks, notes that NIOSH-approved masks are validated by the US government, and discusses testing and valves. Patient Knowhow and its partners have discussed hi-fi masks in news items in CBS News, the Boston Globe, Marketplace Radio, CNN, Stat News, Harvard Business Review, and The Washington Post. The company is a private entity and does not appear to be listed on a public stock exchange. Its audience is global and online, consisting of patients, caregivers, clinicians, researchers, and journalists seeking trustworthy, easy-to-use health information.

• 2017

  Publication of "Containing Zika while we wait for a vaccine" in The BMJ (January 30, 2017) and "The World Is Completely Unprepared for a Global Pandemic" in Harvard Business Review (March 15, 2017).

• 2016

  Publication of "Testing for Ebola" in The New York Times (February 9, 2016) and "The Fight Against Zika Can't Wait for a Vaccine" in Harvard Business Review (August 18, 2016).

• 2014

  Publication of "Controlling Ebola: next steps" in The Lancet (Dhillon RS, Srikrishna D, Sachs JS, October 18, 2014).

• 2011

  Publication of research on using noun phrases to navigate biomedical literature on PubMed (Srikrishna D, Coram MA, PLOS ONE 6(9): e24920).

• During the Covid-19 pandemic, Patient Knowhow publishes guidance on high-fit/high-filtration (hi-fi) masks and is referenced in CBS News, Boston Globe, Marketplace Radio, CNN, Stat News, Harvard Business Review, and Washington Post.

A research-driven global health platform focused on reliable patient education and practical pandemic-control information.

• Patient Knowhow platform

  An online platform for discovering patient education on YouTube and related research on PubMed.

• Hi-fi mask guidance

  Guidance on high-fit/high-filtration masks meeting or exceeding N95 standards, including N95 and elastomeric N95 (eN95) options.

1. 1Patient Knowhow homepagepatientknowhow.com
2. 2Patient Knowhow About pagepatientknowhow.com
3. 3Wikidata: Patient Knowhow (United States)wikidata.org