Ombudsman arranged family mtg; Thank you, Janet!

On 3/2, Abigail and I had a meeting with all the main people involved in Bill's care ( four M.D.'s, two P.T.'s, a charge nurse, dietician, discharge planner) and Kaiser ombudsman Cathy Parker. Cathy Parker is clearly a mover and a shaker and worked at a lightening speed: She met with me and Abby to go over our concerns (1. Bill's severe weight loss; 2. discontinuity of care due to constant changes in nursing and medical staff; 3. lack of Physical and Occupational therapy care; 4. Discharge goals). She addressed #2 problem immediately by getting the charge nurses involved and we got their "commitment" that Bill will only get nurses who know him. The effect of this has been great, as Bill has gotten his favorite nurses assigned.

Cathy also arranged a family meeting a day after and rounded up nine medical staff to meet with us. This meeting was pretty intense as some of the medical staff were defensive but most were great. The attending physician especially was fantastic. The dietitian informed us that Bill has gained 5 lbs in one week and that she will continue to add more nutrients and calories. This news has changed the mood of the whole meeting! Both Abigail and I felt like getting up and cheering!

We were also told that Bill's blood infection has been clear for two days but that they want to monitor him for another week or two.

The P.T. team was quite defensive and wanted to justify their rationale for why they withdrew their treatment. It turns out they had written in their notes for nurses to put Bill in cardiac chair on daily basis but failed to follow through. Bill was not getting this crucial activity without anyone noticing. The discharge planner said that Bill needed to be able to sit up in a chair for at least three hours on his own to be discharged. This alone could keep him in the hospital for a long time.

We also got the doctors to order re-involvement of the O.T., as Bill's scleroderma has contracted his hands and he needs exercises to retard this process.

Overall, both Abigail and I felt empowered by this meeting. We expressed our gratitude for their time and effort on Bill's care and they in turn thanked us for being actively involved. Dr. Derkisian, the attending physician, commented that active family involvement can improve prognosis of the patient :)

And Janet, thank you for calling Kaiser and getting Cathy Parker involved on Bill's behalf. She is going to stay involved in the case so this has been a great great benefit!





The overall result is that Bill will be getting better care.