Today I received a call from one of the local Medical Clinics in our area regarding a patient that they were referring to our office for consultation and treatment. The medical assistant wanted to give our office a “heads ups” regarding this patient and the needs that she has. This assistant told me that the patient has had four strokes in the recent past, was fairly young, and had tremendous difficulty in communicating verbally. She said that the patient would become very frustrated because she could not get out exactly what she wanted to say and would become upset and emotional because of this. She also wanted to make sure that she had sent all of the information on this patient over to our office so we would ask the patient fewer questions regarding her personal and health information, which she felt would make the consultation go much easier for all parties. I looked over the records and information that she sent and we had everything we would need. I asked her if I should call the patient and she told me that the patient wanted to call our office on her own, but she (the assistant) wanted to make sure that we understood that it would take awhile to talk to this patient when she did call and she just wanted to make the situation go as smoothly without stress for her patient and our office. About 15 minutes later the patient did call and I was able to assist her in making the appointment. I was so pleased that the primary care assistant took the time to contact me to tell me of this patients special needs as it really made a difference in being able to schedule her appointment without causing stress to the patient. I understood who I was dealing with and what her limitations were, I was able to assure the patient that I had all of the information that I needed without having to ask her a lot of questions. She had a hard time when trying to explain her situation and did become frustrated when she had to ask multiple times how to spell our street name, I was very patient with her and told her she did not need to apologize for her multiple questions to me. When I hung up the phone, after a 15 minute conversation to schedule the appointment, I was very thankful that this other assistant had taken the time to call me and explain this patients needs, it helped me so much. Understanding communication barriers with patients who have varying disabilities is a real challenge and when we do not deal with these types of needs on a daily basis we need to have the knowledge of how to when we do. I also really appreciated the “heads-up” from this assistant because it showed me how much this office and its personal cared for their patients in helping them to be able to get the care they need with as little stress and difficulty as possible. After my phone call with our new patient I went to the internet to see what is available as educational tools that we could use in the office on communication with patients who have disabilities and I have listed a couple of the links below (there are so many). After reading this material myself I think I am better prepared for when our new patient arrives for her appointment.
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