An employee’s wife had received her COVID vaccine ( both shots) in January 2021. She is a healthcare worker.

Her two year old son got the sniffles. She was concerned. She took her son for his COVID test. She also got tested.

Her COVID PCR test came back as positive. Her son’s test was negative.

That was a stunner for us.

But this means that even though a person has been vaccinated, they can still spread COVID.

But an Israeli study of about 3,000 patients who had all been vaccinated, indicated that the viral load in those who have been vaccinated is low.

That means that the vaccinated persons even if they test COVID positive are much less likely transmit the virus to others.

But to be safe, it will be important to wear a mask and do social distancing even after you are vaccinated.

Raymond Rupert patient advocate and health educator.

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This 14 year old client is very complex. She has problems covering several medical disciplines. These include: neurology, endocrinology, cardiology, gastroenterology and psychiatry.

We were informed by a recognized medical doctor at the large children’s hospital that their job is to only focus on their discipline and to get her out. The doctor stated that it was her job to focus on only her specialty and that was it.

This was a stunning example of failure to integrate. Why would a large children’s hospital with all of these disciplines with highly trained medical doctors not create an integrated team to address this very complex client?

The only way to address this level of complexity is with an integrated team.

This is certainly a failure to recognize complexity and a failure to respond appropriately with an integrated team. Why would this be so obvious to the team at RCM Health Consultancy when it is not obvious to these very highly trained medical specialists.

I will apologize to the family for the failure of my brothers and sisters in healthcare to act appropriately in addressing complexity with an integrated team approach.

Raymond Rupert patient advocate and healthcare consultant.

The post When Does Patient Complexity Warrant An Integrated Approach: Raymond Rupert patient advocate appeared first on Raymond Rupert.

When cardiology saw Laura, it was evident that she was in trouble. An immediate cardiac echo showed her to have very severe valvular heart disease. And she was in right heart failure.

She was immediately considered for cardiac surgery. However the doctors managing her care were not communicating with the patient and the family.

In fact, the doctors had failed to communicate effectively over the several months of the patient’s hospitalization. This lead to a failed and somewhat contentious relationship with the family.

Our job as patient advocates was to immediately talk to the treating doctors and then brief the family about the plans for cardiac surgery.

Our job as advocates was to understand the plan for cardiac surgery and to understand how Laura would be transitioned to the cardiac surgeon.

The patient advocate has to understand how the plumbing works in the complex web of healthcare relationships.

By talking to the treating doctors in a collaborative manner and then translating for the family, our team at RCM Health Consultancy was able to fully inform the family, reassure the treating doctors, to assist with the transition to cardiac surgery and then provide monitoring and quality control once the transition had occurred.

So a key role of the patient advocate is to communicate often with clients to keep them totally informed and up to date with issues and information.

To find your patient advocate, you should email RCM:

info@rcmhealthconsultancy.com

or call 647 350 5500

Raymond Rupert patient advocate and healthcare consultant.

The post Failure To Communicate About Cardiac Surgery: Raymond Rupert patient advocate appeared first on Raymond Rupert.

Arranging for the treating team of doctors to have a conversation about a patient’s case is called a case conference. 

Case conferences can be decisive in helping to make big decisions about both investigations and treatments for patients especially when the patient is complex. 

Unfortunately, case conferences are not used as often as they might be. It is our job at RCM Health Consultancy to encourage participation in case conferences.

When case conferences do occur and when they involve the patient and  family, they can be revelatory in terms of sharing valuable information with the patient and family to assist in making decisions. And it is the patient and the family who have the ultimate say in these decisions. 

The team at RCM Health Consultancy has a track record of organizing case conferences with the treating doctors. This is most useful when there is complexity and some confusion about next steps instead of clarity about how the case should be managed. 

When the details of the case are unpacked within the structure of a case conference, then the treating doctors can quickly move to a harmonized view of the case. 

Our objective in organizing case conferences is the best possible achievable outcome for all our clients.   We encourage our clients to engage in case conferences with the treating doctors in a collaborative manner guided by the team members at RCM Health Consultancy. 

Case Study

Jay was 73 years of age. He was very complex. He had hydrocephalus which is a blockage of the cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) flow in the brain. This blockage causes neurologic complications and a tendency to fall. He also has early and progressive dementia.  The biggest risk was the risk of falling. He had 3 super specialists ( 2 neurologists and one neurosurgeon) involved. They had never spoken together about the case until we had organized a case conference. The outcome of the case conference was the decision to stent and fix the hydrocephalus to  reduce the risk of falling. Jay’s wife participated. We recorded the call for her. She and Jay were able to finally make a decision. The family appreciated the support from the team at RCM. 

Conclusion:

The case conference is proving to be an essential process for our clients. The case conference assists the treating team of doctors and the patient and family at achieving clarity about a definitive care plan. Once the definitive care plan is articulated, then the team at RCM assists in implementing the plan for our clients.

Raymond Rupert patient advocate

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