I'm Thriving Too!!!

Recently, my husband and I were out shopping for a new bed frame when a sales member came up to my husband and asked him if I worked at Kaiser (I was wearing one of my KP Thrive shirts). When my husband replied, "For the past 20 years" this gentleman asked if I would mind if he asked me a question. My husband laughed and said "not as long as you are prepared for a passionate answer."

This man I'll call "John" came up and introduced himself (as I was laying on a tempur-pedic mattress). He introduced himself as "John" and told me my husband said it would be okay to ask me a question.  Giving my husband one of those "what did you do now" looks, I rolled off the bed to face this sweet man. He said he was a new member to Kaiser and recently went in for a physical where he was encouraged to get a TDAP since he is around his young grandchildren. His concern was that he was feeling sore and tired since he had the vaccine a few days back. I told him that I also had a similar experience with the TDAP, but as long as his symptoms weren't severe, it would most likely dissipate in the next few days. I asked him if he had signed up on KP.ORG yet and he was, so I showed him how to pull up information on Tdap which lists the side affects and warning signs. He went on to tell me about his experience at the San Dimas clinic and how impressed he was that they had called him a week before his appointment to let him know he was due for some lab work and ask that he have those labs done before his visit. He was even mailed an IFOBT kit. John said he did as he was asked (including "doing the poop sample") and was so surprised when just a few hours later he received an email that told him most of his labs results were ready to view on KP.ORG. I was so excited because this meant San Dimas was doing the full Monty of POE! Grinning from ear to ear I said, "They are doing pre-encounter! That is so great!" John just looked at me and my husband in bewilderment. After a brief explanation of KP's preventive care programs, my husband shrugged at John and told him "I said you would get a passionate answer!"

John went on to explain that he was surprised how the nurse knew everything he needed to have done and that she even gave him information about a Smoking Cessation program that he has since enrolled in. When John met Dr. Cadido Gamez, he felt like he really listened. John had an HMO before that he thought was good, but they only seemed to care about what he was going in for, not smoking, or exercise, or other stuff we asked him. Dr. Gamez asked John how he was feeling and if there were any specific concerns he would like to address. John, an older gentleman, said he was experiencing some "male" issues. Dr. Gamez was able to adjust John's medications and the side affect he was experiencing went away. John said the doctor put everything in the computer and even gave him a "visit summary" so when he got home he was able to "just hand that paper to his wife and it answered all of her questions before she could ask them."

After about 10 more minutes of small talk, John said, "well... I better let you two go. I just saw your shirt and wanted you to know that apart from that Tdap shot, I feel like I'm thriving too!. Thank you!"

So this blog post is dedicated to everyone who works behind the scenes to those on the front line who make positive patient care stories like this happen every day. Together, we provide our members a complete care experience. Together... we save lives. One person at a time.

My sincere thanks and appreciation to:

• San Dimas MOB staff, physician's and leadership who have made POE and the complete care experience part of their culture
• Local and regional leaders who set and support the vision of patient centered care
• Regional Workflow Consultants who help train those workflows
• Long Term Support for being the go to people for our front line
• SSD for implementing an EMR that allows us the ability to really "KNOW our patient's" and provide a "visit summary"
• PAS programmers who help us make the right thing easier to do
• Our KP.ORG staff who make information easy to get to
• Clinical Decision Support and Clinical Content for building tools that increase efficiency
• Clinical Operations for developing programs to support our front lines

And everyone else who supports our Kaiser Permanente members - we wouldn't be thriving without you.