The Desimone Levee on the Green River failed and is under repair. The hospital is above the flood zone and currently in no danger of flooding. We evacuated our Time Square and Kent Station Clinics and our Lind Avenue locations. Several locations are experiencing staffing issues due to severe traffic impacts. Impacted patients are being contacted to reschedule appointments. Please be safe, do not drive or walk through standing water, and call 9-1-1 if you need emergency evacuation assistance.
Click here for King County Road Closure Real-time Tracker.
Clinician Tip o' the Month - June 2024
At a recent New Employee Orientation (NEO) clinician coaching session, a clinician received a MyChart message from a new patient requesting an increased dosage and frequency of a controlled medication initially prescribed by a specialist. The clinician and patient had previously agreed to continue the same regimen without any changes. However, the patient was now seeking a modification to this plan, and the clinician was conflicted about how to approach the situation.
On one hand, denying the patient's request could upset them, potentially leading to negative feedback or loss of revenue for the organization. On the other hand, complying with the request without consulting the specialist made the clinician uncomfortable.
Previous "Tips of the Month" have addressed similar situations conceptually. This time, however, I want to explore a more comprehensive approach to these dilemmas.
First and foremost, good medicine must be the priority, even if it means displeasing a patient. Indeed, one of our core Valley tenets is to treat our Community like Family!
With this in mind, there are ways to deliver an unpopular message to patients and their families that can minimize the risk of negative fallout. Clinicians need to keep an open mind, be aware of their own internal biases and defensive triggers, and avoid assigning negative associations to the request from the beginning.
From this perspective, clinicians can first validate their patients' concerns and clear up any misunderstandings. Perhaps the patient is feeling worse and assumes the clinician would be comfortable adjusting the medication dosage. If still uncomfortable, the clinician can express regret about not fulfilling the request and calmly communicate their boundaries. For example, "I’m sorry, but I’m not comfortable making any changes until we have more input from the specialist. Let me send them a message, and we'll proceed from there. Does that sound reasonable?"
This is the art of medicine, and it is often neither easy nor comfortable. It challenges us to examine our internal reasoning to ensure it is fair, just, and equitable. We must then deliver, at times, unpopular responses in a caring manner, relying on best practices, sometimes even at the expense of business considerations.