Kansas City, Kan- Key points from today’s guests:
Jodi Schmidt, executive director, the Care Collaborative, The University of Kansas Health System
- The Care Collaborative is a program designed to bring the benefits of academic medicine and the same protocols used at The University of Kansas Health System to smaller communities.
- Working with Dr. Robert Moser, who's our medical director and was a rural physician for 22 years, we are making sure our offerings fit the smaller community environment, and then bring it to that community through boot camps, through electronic protocols, through training programs, and through the support of our team.
- The goal is to give local physicians all of the access our academic physicians have at the health system in KCK -- from the very latest research to the latest recommendations.
- We started out in Northwest Kansas with 13 rural members, and we now have 85 members in 73 Kansas counties all working together to improve and bring the highest level of quality care to smaller communities.
- I've seen so much in my 35 years working in smaller community health care that makes me really proud of the tremendous physicians and nurses -- and all the team members that provide that support.
- Our goal is to make things a little easier, to stay on top of the research and bring it to the health care teams in rural communities so they don't have to go out and find it themselves. So not only are we bringing the latest research to the physicians, but the nurse practitioners and the physician assistants and the nurses in the hospital, the EMS crew, so they're all on the same page. And we also work with the regional cardiologist to make sure they're on the same page.
- We want to be working from the same playbook to make it as easy as possible to adopt.
- Regardless of whether you live in a smaller community or an urban community, every patient deserves great health care.
Glen Virden, patient
- When Glen Virdon went to have his hernia repaired at Clara Barton Hospital in central Kansas, he wasn't expecting to hear that he had atrial fibrillation, when the heart's upper chambers beat out of sync with the lower chambers.
- Glen's Care team at Clara Barton referred him to The University of Kansas Health System’s electrophysiologist Dr. Rigoberto Ramirez to treat it.
- Instead of driving four hours to meet Dr. Ramirez in Kansas City, Dr. Ramirez would see Glen in Great Bend -- just a 15-minute drive from his home.
- Glen was pleased that he could see a specialist like that in his hometown. This is possible because Glen's health team at Clara Barton is part of the University of Kansas Health System’s Care Collaborative, an organization dedicated to delivering the benefits of academic medicine and access to specialists in smaller communities.
- After his ablation procedure, he was able to go home the next day and is doing great.
Lisa Virden, Glen’s wife
- She said she was so nervous for Glen, but the nurses and care team were so helpful in keeping her updated and providing information.
- She encourages more people in rural areas to understand there are collaborations like this for others to get specialty care.
Dr. Rigoberto Ramirez, electrophysiologist, cardiologist, The University of Kansas Health System
- Glen had an ablation procedure and then actually received one of the small devices that we put in to monitor afib in patients in Great Bend.
- I typically see about 15 to 17 patients in Great Bend per month. I think that growing up in a rural community and just understanding the obstacles a rural community has to access care is extremely important.
- When I came from Kansas City to Great Bend, that level of care is exactly the same as it is in Kansas City. So, what I provide in Kansas City -- the access to the specialty doctors, the heart failure doctors, the interventional doctors here -- all of that that I bring to Great Bend and is directly accessible to rural patients. It's just closer to home.
- I am a heart and rhythm doctor, but I'm also a cardiologist. And so, what happens is a lot of the primary care physicians refer patients to me -- probably 30 percent of the population that's referred to me is general cardiology, and the other 70 percent is heart rhythm disorders.
- What is amazing about these rural communities is that these primary care doctors know how to take care of patients. They're able to take care of the basic health maintenance issues that they need to take care of.
- As a heart and rhythm doctor, we treat several different conditions. The most prevalent are atrial fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia.
- I’m so passionate about helping people like Glen and Lisa. This is why I do what I do.
