Teams help improve outcomes

You would think that health care providers by now would have learned to work together as teams.  While there has been some improvement in team work there remains much yet to be improved.  Over and over I hear from young people with lived experience (and their parents) how their care has “fallen between the cracks”, even within teams who are supposed to be working together to help them.

It has also been my observation that health care teams are often highly constricted to those providers who work in the same location.  While this is almost understandable, it is not to my mind the meaning of a team.  A health care team needs to be based on the needs of the person who is receiving care, not the location in which some or most of the care givers are situated.

And, the data shows that when we widen the team members, and when the team members work together in the interests of the patient, good things happen for the patient!  Great!  This is what our goal should be.

A recent study (it was in the journal called Schizophrenia Bulletin 37: 727-736; 2011) examined the role that pharmacists play in helping people who have chronic and severe mental disorders better understand the medications that they were taking.  These pharmacists also provided counseling about medications and what to do if the patient experienced any problems.  Guess what?  Patients who received this support were much more likely to take the medications that they needed to stay well.  Seems almost obvious to me.

Actually, when I think about it, I have been very lucky to have worked with two outstanding Pharmacists (both have their PhD in Pharmacy – it’s called the PharmD) for many years now, Dr. David Gardner and Dr. Andrea Murphy.  I have learned a ton from each of them.  They can show us the way for how all health providers can work together to help improve the lives of young people and their families.  And they worked with me to create an amazing resource called Med Ed which helps young people and their families get the best medications care.  Click here to learn more about MED ED.

-Stan