Thursday, August 27, 2015


Preconference Tidbit #1 - Team Awesome
by Kana Kornsawad















 




Hi Everyone,

Each day leading up to the meeting you will receive a "Tidbit" about collaborative care.
The first "Tidbit" is a note from Kana Kornsawad, an attending hospitalist from San Antonio. You will meet Kana at the meeting.

Kana wrote this recently about Andrew and Anne Louise, who were medical students on the collaborative care service. A photo of "Team Awesome" from January is attached. Kana is in the center on the left. Andrew and Anne Louise are the second and third from the right.

From Kana -

            While I was checking my email a few days ago, I saw a message from Andrew.  I thought, maybe just another request for a letter of reference for the residency application. Why me?, I wondered. Last I heard, he is applying for orthopedics.

            Surprisingly, it was not what I thought.  Andrew has been nominated for the Gold Humanism Honor Society and he would like me to write him a letter of support. He said, “Dr. K, our experience on team 4 is what humanism in medicine is all about.” That brought tears in my eyes.

            He told the story of one of the patients who passed away during our collaborative care.  One of his statements was, "I learned a great deal about what it means to be a doctor during this experience.  I saw the importance of compassion, respect, and empathy, while working tirelessly to provide the highest quality of care to patients."

            I kept reading that sentence and thinking back about a few months ago when we were discussing how the model would impact the learners. I still don't have the clear answer but I do know one thing.  This model has created an environment for the learner to be able to learn the heart of medicine....humanity, compassion, and empathy as I read through Andrew's personal statement.

                Another surprise phone call came from Anne Louise this evening.  “Hi Dr. K, how are you? Can I ask you for a favor?” I said yes. "Would you mind be my faculty advisor on an assay that I am working on to submit to ACP?" I said, "of course."  The prompt was "Team Care" she said.

                I started laughing. I knew what was coming next.  She said, "This prompt is begging me to write something about collaborative care."  I smiled to myself...co-incident!  Two of the students on collaborative care were telling me the same thing. They told me that their time on team 4 was one of the most memorable learning experiences for them throughout medical school.

                Besides increasing patient satisfaction, delivering the best care to the patients, building great relationships, and decreasing length of stay, one more thing to add to the list of collaborative care outcomes is...it has created at least two outstanding physicians who will be the future of medicine.

                Thanks,

                Kana

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