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Show IHCs Caring Magazine UaMMHWefa, ' ' in mi it What kind of care is the best care? Which medical treatments yield the best outcomes? These questions ques-tions can only be answered by the scientific scien-tific analysis of care processes and out-i out-i comes. At IHC, physicians, nurses, and other j caregivers are engaged in just such analysis. Teams have been created to study different methods of caring for patients with certain illnesses: asthma, diabetes, pneumonia, cardiovascular dis-j dis-j ease, and cancer, to name a few. The I teams are supported by sophisticated computer information systems that allow data to be collected and analyzed. The result is an impressive body of knowledge: medical "best practices" ! defined for these areas of care. The treatment guidelines are always a work in progress; they are never considered consid-ered "perfect" and are continually j improved. Doctors are always free to i exercise their judgment and depart from the guidelines when they feel it's in the patient's best interest to do so. But as clinicians discuss treatment options and apply what they learn consistently, outcomes out-comes do improve sometimes quite dramatically. For patients at IHC hospitals and clinics, this search for best practices produces care that is tmly state-of-the-art. 1 Medical outcomes at IHC are among the best in the world. That's one reason doctors and ether clinicians from outside the Lntermountaan area ccme here to study what physicians are doing at IHC. ! Here are three patients who have benefited bene-fited from the research at IHC. Self-Managing Asthma j For nine years, Jason Harmon was con-! con-! stantly in and out of the hospital "He used to wake up every night at 2 a.m. with an asthma attack," said Jason's mother. Susan. "We just kind of sched-' sched-' uled our winters for him to be in the I hospital After about the tenth hospital stay, I stopped counting." ' Two yean ago. Jason nearly died from a severe asthma attack. He was struggle for breath, and his oxygen-saturation levels were extremely low. Jason was transferred by IHC LifeFUght to IHCs Primary Children's Medical Center. He stayed in ICU for four days and in the regular unit for three more. "We thought we lest him," said Susan. But it was at Primary Children's that Jason's life changed. He was enrolled in The Children's Asthma Program, directed by Derek Uchida, MD, where he was taught how to "self-manage" his condition. condi-tion. Jason and his family learned how to prevent asthma attacks, how to control con-trol the "triggers," and how to check air flew levels. At first he went to the clinic monthly. Now he gees twice a year. "It is totally amazing," said Susan. "Jason has not been hospitalized since that attack two years ago. He hasn't been to the Emergency Room either and has had only a few minor attacks. He has done incredibly well And we've all been able to take on a better lifestyle." Jason also attends the Asthma Camp sponsored by Primary Children's and the American Lung Association. At camp, children ages 8 to H spend a week learning about asthma and how to manage man-age their medications "The best thing is they help the kids see that they are normal." nor-mal." said Susan. Jason is now 14 years old and is living an active, healthy lifestyle. In fact, he recently won a 5K race for his age group. "Just because you have asthma doesn't mean you can't do things," Jason said. "You can do just about anything any-thing other people can do." Controlling Diabetes Last December, ReNee Hamblin was not surprised to learn she had diabetes. "I knew something was wrong," she said. ReNee's physician, Mark Milligan, MD, at the IHC Health Center in Layton, Utah, participates in IHCs "best practice" initiative ini-tiative studying diabetes. The team has recommended new guidelines for treating treat-ing diabetes good news for patients like ReNee who need help in managing their blood sugar levels. One of the best features of IHCs diabetes program is the team approach, ReNee said. In addition to Dr. Milligan, ReNee works with a diabetes care manager, Terri Park-Thompsen, RN, BSN. "Terri is my health care coach," said ReNee. "I can call her any time I have a question, and she lets me know about new services and ideas. I know other people with diabetes, dia-betes, and when they see me with my books, my glucometer, and all this other information, they say, "Wow where did you get this? I never knew that level of support was available!' "I just feel 100 percent better," sard ReNee. "I was relieved to know what was making me ill and that I can do something about it. I've made some changes in my life, but it hasn't been that hard." Surviving Pneumonia As a retired registered nurse, Phyllis Hewlett recognized her chronic cough and wheezing as symptoms of pneumonia. pneumo-nia. She'd had pneumonia before, and the prospects cf being hospitalized frustrated frus-trated her. "It was Chnstmastime," she said, "and I had 13 guests coming for dxner!" But at the same tome, Phyllis wasn't willing to let her condition worsen. "It's painful," says Phyllis. "The coughing cough-ing is the worst. I didn't want to go through that again." Phyllis contacted her physician, Nathan Dean, KD. After the diagnosis was confirmed, con-firmed, she and her doctor agreed upon a carefully planned regimen which allowed her to be treated as an outpatient. outpa-tient. She improved rapidly. She didn't know it at the time, but Phyllis benefited from a pneumonia treatment protocol developed over the last seven years by Dr. Dean and other physicians at IHC. Physicians and other caregivers have studied different ways cf treating pneumonia patients and have determined which ways are most effective. effec-tive. Phyllis recovered faster because her doctor and nurses knew the right medicines, medi-cines, the right techniques, and the nght timing to use in caring for her. "I feel I got excellent treatment," Phyllis says. The nurse called regularly to see hew I was doing. They're all very compassionate." |