You know it is sad to say, but it is true.
Years ago I was hearing of a growing movement where people would hire “advocate physicians” (almost certainly not the correct title but we will use it for the purposes of this post).
This advocate would have full access to the patient’s EMR, would be able to call and/or meet with any and all of the care team, consultants, etc. They would then be able to summarize all of their findings into a clear and coherent message to the family. They also would express the family’s concerns in a way that made sure that the physicians knew what was up. They would point out conflicts; Hey! The Nephrologist just ordered 6 liters of IV fluids and the Pulmonologist just ordered 400mg Lasix IV, let’s get it together here and figure out which way we want the fluids to go!!!
Can’t say that I’ve seen anyplace adopt this just yet. Don’t know if anyone of our experts have seen it at their institutions.
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