Having a care management team in place builds trust with patients so they are caught before something really serious happens that sends them to the emergency department, said Beth Wittmer, RN, OCN, manager of care management at Florida Cancer Specialists and Research Institute.
Having a care management team in place builds trust with patients so they are caught before something really serious happens that sends them to the emergency department, said Beth Wittmer, RN, OCN, manager of care management at Florida Cancer Specialists and Research Institute.
Transcript
What sorts of issues for patients might slip through the cracks normally that get caught when a proper care management program is in place?
Well one of those is nutrition, so we do have dieticians that work with patients very closely, especially the high-risk patients. So pancreatic, colon cancer, people are at higher risk with dietary issues. Head and neck cancer, where they’re doing radiation and chemo combined, and they can’t eat, they can’t swallow, so they end up with a [percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy] tube. Those are high-risk people that we really want to watch closely.
Things that can happen if we didn’t have our care management in place, then those kind of proactive phone calls wouldn’t be happening, and those patients would be really sick before they often will call us. So, building a trust relationship with them and they realize like, “Oh hey there’s a nurse on call 24/7. I don’t mind calling her at 3 in the morning.” They won’t call their doctor because they don’t want to bother them, but they are okay with calling a nurse which is good because we then can alert the physicians and say what’s happening.
So we’re able to prevent a lot of ER visits and we’ve proven that in the first year with [the Oncology Care Model] by an 18% drop in hospitalization.
Dr Dalia Rotstein: Physicians Must Be Aware MS Affects People of All Backgrounds
April 24th 2024Dalia Rotstein, MD, MPH, emphazises the importance of awareness that multiple sclerosis (MS) impacts patients from various backgrounds as clinicians think through ways to improve access to care and research efforts in MS.
Read More
Empowering Community Health Through Wellness and Faith
April 23rd 2024To help celebrate and recognize National Minority Health Month, we are bringing you a special month-long podcast series with our Strategic Alliance Partner, UPMC Health Plan. In the third episode, Camille Clarke-Smith, EdD, MS, CHES, CPT, discusses approaching community health holistically through spiritual and community engagement.
Listen
Beyond Insulin: The Impact of Next-Generation Diabetes Technology
April 17th 2024Experts explain how new diabetes technologies like continuous glucose monitors are transforming care beyond intensive insulin therapy, offering personalized insights and improving outcomes for patients of all treatment levels.
Read More
Overcoming Employment Barriers for Lasting Social Impact: Freedom House 2.0 and Pathways to Work
April 16th 2024To help celebrate and recognize National Minority Health Month, we are bringing you a special month-long podcast series with our Strategic Alliance Partner, UPMC Health Plan. Welcome to our second episode, in which we learn all about Freedom House 2.0 and the Pathways to Work program.
Listen
Increasing Lp(a) Awareness for Better Cardiovascular Health: Dr Mary McGowan
March 24th 2024For Lp(a) Awareness Day, Mary McGowan, MD, FNLA, chief medical officer of the Family Heart Foundation, highlights how most people with elevated Lp(a) are completely unaware that they have this increased risk and calls for increased testing.
Read More