Patient and Care Partner Discuss Value in MPN Care
Patient and Care Partner Discuss Value in MPN Care from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.
MPN Empowerment Leads Jeff and Summer talk about how they define value in Summer’s care. For instance, one important thing that brings value to them is how accessible their healthcare team is. Watch now to hear more about what they value on Summer’s journey with myelofibrosis.
Transcript
Jeff:
Alright Summer, I’m just looking at the bill for your last doctor’s appointment.
Summer:
Wow.
Jeff:
Do you think we get good value for our money? Oh. Hi, I’m Jeff.
Summer:
HI, I’m Summer.
Jeff:
And we’re your Patient Empowerment Network Network Leads for myelofibrosis. And we’re here to talk to you today about how do you define value for your healthcare dollar. What do you think is important for healthcare dollars, Summer?
Summer:
Well, really important is that the doctor and all the medical staff really listen to the patient and really aware of how the patient is doing everything. Also, that they need to explain because my doctor will come up with little charts with funny little numbers on them and something about blasts which doesn’t have anything to do with blasting like having fun. So, she’ll come out with that and explain all that.
Also, to let you know what’s going on with your medication. Where I get my medication is Walgreens Specialty Pharmacy and they’re very good. They always call me about any changes. They let me know when the order’s in. They always offer to delivery it, but I don’t think that’s a very good idea so I do pick it up.
Also, that they see the patient as an individual and respect their individuality. For example, I’m big on mind-body connection. I think there’s a huge connection doing exercise daily, eating pretty good, but I do like my sweet treats too. I don’t give that up. And Zelda, she just likes to lay around, and that’s what she enjoys. Don’t you, baby?
Jeff:
Well, a couple of things that I think are important for your value for your healthcare dollar, one is accessibility. Is your doctor easily accessible? And with the UCSD system that we’re on, we have great accessibility. They have a wonderful patient portal on the web that you can go and find out all of your results. I don’t have to keep a book of past blood test results because it’s all on the web and I can see it. And if we want to get in touch with them, there’s a way to send them a message and they get in touch with us within the day for sure. And we can make an appointment that way. It’s really, really a good system. So, accessibility is one thing that’s really important.
Another thing is availability of specialists. Myelofibrosis is a very, very rare and unusual disease and there aren’t a lot of specialists in the whole country. We’re truly blessed to have Dr. Tanaka who is a researcher and a specialist is myelofibrosis and myeloid diseases be on call when Summer showed up at the hospital with her first incidence that led to this diagnosis. And UCSD has a number of doctors that are specialists, so we are fortunate. But you need to find a healthcare system where you have enough specialists.
And the final thing that I can think of is, you need to be your own advocate. The doctor is doing the best they can, he or she can, to solve your problem and to work within what they think is normal standard, normal practice, but they’re not mind readers. They can’t understand what is concerning you. You need to speak up, ask questions, and let the doctor know your concerns so they can address them. That’s the patient’s job as opposed to the healthcare system or the doctor’s job. Speak up.
So those are some of the ways we define value in our healthcare ‘Til next time, I’m Jeff.
Summer:
Summer. Zelda.
