Sometimes your doctor doesn’t have the time to answer all your questions, or doesn’t seem to explain it in a way you understand. I can take the time to go over everything with you so that all your questions are answered.
Consultant to Individuals:
- I can help you cope with a new diagnosis: what is going to happen, what will life be like, what can I do?
- I can guide you through the process of getting assistance or moving to a supervised care setting.
- I can help you understand the issues around creating an advance directive, so you can make one that reflects what you really want
- I can explain your hospitalization or your test results, and help you know what to ask your doctor
- I can give you the time you need to get all your questions answered
Consultant to Families:
I can help you with all kinds of issues:
- when is it time to get outside help for mom and dad?
- how do we choose an assisted living or nursing home?
- what happened when dad was in the hospital?
- does mom have dementia?
- mom has memory problems, but she won’t move to an assisted living
- should I take dad to the hospital?
- who gets to decide?
Consultant to Facilities:
- Lectures to large audiences: topics can include End of Life Care/Issues, Osteoporosis, Hearing Loss, Advance Directives/POLST, Dementia, Depression, Common Medical Problems of the Elderly or almost any topic of interest to the community. First lecture is complementary.
- Small group workshops: similar topics as the lectures. These give individuals time to ask all the questions they want and actually get them all answered.
- Support groups: Parkinson’s, hearing loss, “The Difficult Diagnosis,” depression, dementia, or other conditions
- In-services to nursing: similar topics as the lectures/workshops, plus: TB/PPD, hepatitis and blood-borne infections, antibiotic stewardship, taking care of the patient who is actively dying, vascular dementia, goals of care, capacity/who makes decisions.
- Program development: fall prevention, balance classes, community treatment of depression, dementia program.
Improving quality of care:
I can help you improve fall prevention strategies, give in-services on important patient care topics to nursing, develop protocols for nurse treatments and reporting, refine change-of-condition responsiveness, improve medical management and de-prescribing, institute a dementia care program, and help you improve compliance with advance directives. I can offer Q & A sessions to patients and families on a multitude of topics and improve facility responsiveness to patient and family needs. I can support your Medical Director and perform tasks that s/he may not have time to address, or cover when s/he is on vacation.
Patient-centered Care:
It is great to allow patients or residents to choose their own mealtimes and shower times, but patient-centered care can be so much more! Post-acute patients have their own set of needs, as do longterm care residents. I can help you understand those needs, and find simple and efficient ways to address them. Nursing home care is undergoing a new revolution, where we are trying to reduce the impersonality and barrenness of facility life. Let me help you find ways of making your facility provide cutting edge care and service that really addresses the needs of those who stay or live there.