When I opened Moshen the concept was simple: treat patients how I would treat family. With that in mind one of the pillars I wanted to focus on was staying in touch or giving my patients a means to contact me whenever they needed; after all, I’m never more than a text message away from my family. This concept seems obvious, but it wasn’t something I started thinking about until after listening to world-famous orthopedic surgeon, Dr. James Andrews, give a talk on his experiences in sports medicine. The take-home quote from the lecture was “answer the phone.” He went on to elaborate saying that your patients are going through difficult experiences that are new to them, even if you’ve done it a thousand times, this may be their first injury. Questions arise and you need to be there to help your patients through their recovery. Dr. Andrews wasn’t just talking about answering the phone when the superstars call either. I know this because when I’ve had to call the famous surgeon, the man who’s operated on Drew Brees, Bo Jackson, and Roger Clemens picked up the phone and talked to me.
In my practice staying in touch means that every one of my patients has access to an app that includes a chat feature that is password protected and healthcare compliant. With this feature we have conversations about how their home exercises are going, which ones they like and don’t like; they tell me about improvements and soreness; they ask questions about what activities they can do or should avoid; and my favorite thing to hear is when they let me know that they are getting better! Utilizing this technology is something that I knew would add to the patient experience and perhaps ease some anxieties. What I didn’t anticipate is how much I’d enjoy the feedback I’ve gotten. I don’t have to wait until a follow-up appointment to find out how things are going. While you may not be reaching out to let me know that you’ve won a Superbowl for the Saints, we can stay in touch just like family and that is more gratifying than you can imagine.
