Patient Case Review LIVE - Complex Diabetes after Hospital Discharge

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Show notes:

This was a case I reviewed with my new grad NP mentee recently, that was complicated on SO many levels and unfortunately happens quite a bit.

It's a patient case where it's not just about the complex medical management, but also the pieces of stepping into this role as a nurse practitioner to navigate the health care system and our patients' lives.

The premise is that it's a 40-year old cis-male patient presenting for hospital follow-up after admission for pneumonia and hyperglycemic hyperosmolar syndrome (severely elevated blood sugar in someone with type 2 diabetes), as well as a complex leg wound and possible necrotizing fasciitis.

Complex Patient Case Study

Medicine in the real world can be messy, and I discuss the case, pearls of practice to keep in mind, and what supports to seek and what to watch out for.

Note - I didn't address every single aspect of this case - including principles of mealtime insulin, the wound assessment and pneumonia, but these were improving! Hopefully, this is a helpful overview of the general approach and pearls of practice.

Managing Diabetes, Hypertension & CKD Review Course

If you'd like support caring for patients with these three chronic conditions, we cover diagnostic criteria, medication management, real case study examples, and when to refer inside this new program. Join the waitlist here and you'll be notified first when it opens up again.

  • 0:19

    well hello there

    0:26

    cool i think we're live um so if you are

    0:30

    here

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    please let me know um there is a minor

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    delay between

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    the video and the and the transmission

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    to youtube

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    so um so yeah hopefully my audio is

    0:43

    working i've had some issues before

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    going live

    0:45

    um but i'm just gonna jump in um so

    0:48

    welcome

    0:49

    um this is uh liz rohr from

    0:52

    real world np and you are watching np

    0:55

    practice made simple the weekly videos

    0:57

    to help save you time

    0:58

    frustration and help you learn faster so

    1:00

    you can take the best care of your

    1:01

    patient

    1:02

    so this is the one of the live videos i

    1:05

    haven't done a live in a while and i see

    1:06

    some people here hello christine

    1:08

    please let me know if my audio is okay

    1:10

    there's a little bit of a delay between

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    um like my zoom and the actual youtube

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    so um

    1:16

    so yeah i'm actually doing a difficult

    1:18

    case review so i'm glad you're here

    1:20

    and um

    1:24

    uh yeah so i'm just gonna jump in i'm

    1:26

    sorry the delay is kind of

    1:28

    throwing me off a little bit um but yeah

    1:30

    so um

    1:31

    i wanted to talk about this difficult

    1:33

    case um that i met with one of my

    1:35

    mentees that i work with one-on-one

    1:37

    um talked about and i think that what

    1:40

    inspired me

    1:41

    is that i was i mean it was it was it

    1:44

    was painful in a number of ways

    1:46

    it was um

    1:49

    yeah it's a if it's a it's a difficult

    1:51

    case and there are many complicating

    1:52

    factors and i think it

    1:54

    brings up one of the additional like

    1:56

    it's the medical piece but also the

    1:57

    additional pieces that go along

    1:59

    with um becoming a nurse practitioner

    2:03

    and having to do those make

    2:04

    make some difficult decisions outside of

    2:06

    actually just learning the medicine

    2:08

    right so i'm just going to jump right in

    2:10

    but please let me know if you have

    2:11

    questions and i'll stop

    2:13

    at the end and see if anybody has any

    2:14

    questions um

    2:16

    but anyway this patient is a um

    2:20

    is a 40 year old male 1 and um

    2:24

    uh was admit so this is a 40 year old

    2:27

    man

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    here for hospital discharge follow-up

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    and

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    was admitted for about a week for

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    bilateral pneumonia

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    dka diabetic diabetic ketoacidosis but

    2:39

    it's actually type 2 diabetes and it

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    might be splitting hairs a little bit

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    but

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    i should have clarified with my mentee

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    if it was truly dka or if it was

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    actually that like hyperosmolar

    2:47

    hyperglycemic syndrome

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    um it's like slightly different but like

    2:51

    the moral of the story

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    is that um there's some it's severe

    2:55

    hyperglycemia with metabolic

    2:56

    abnormalities right so regardless

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    um i think it's important for historical

    3:00

    going forward there are some

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    small slivers of people who have type 2

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    diabetes that can have true diabetic

    3:06

    ketoacidosis but

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    anyway splitting hair is a little bit

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    but um also

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    had a left leg wound and there's a

    3:12

    question of necrotizing fasciitis

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    so um the ct they did a ct scan of this

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    like upper

    3:18

    leg wound um that showed some suspicion

    3:21

    for possible necrotizing cellulitis but

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    it wasn't conclusive

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    and like kind of just to pause there

    3:26

    like as a pearl of practice

    3:28

    um you can uh like if we find something

    3:32

    that is suggestive but is not conclusive

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    we're typically gonna err on the side

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    of um like making sure that it's not

    3:38

    that and assuming that it is until it's

    3:40

    not if that makes sense instead of like

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    oh it's probably not that right because

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    we don't want that to like turn into a

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    big old thing

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    you know um but anyway so i had surgery

    3:50

    twice

    3:50

    for debridement um and was supposed to

    3:53

    be discharged home with a picc line

    3:55

    um on iv antibiotic cephalosporin as

    3:58

    well as go to a skilled nursing facility

    4:00

    uh for two weeks but the patient had no

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    insurance

    4:03

    so um uh and was declining to go

    4:07

    see a wound care specialist go to

    4:08

    skilled nursing facility um

    4:10

    and actually like this whole thing is

    4:13

    really tragic but like another tragic

    4:15

    point that kind of like it was just

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    painful was that

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    the patient was was placed on this

    4:22

    provider's schedule

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    like three minutes before the schedule

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    was supposed to start the appointment

    4:27

    and it was a telemedicine

    4:28

    visit which really it should have been

    4:29

    an in-person visit i mean

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    you understand from the clinic's

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    perspective like this person probably

    4:34

    should be

    4:34

    at least seen assessed by somebody even

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    if it's by telephone

    4:38

    um ideally that person would come in in

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    person because that's a pretty pretty

    4:41

    sick patient but

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    anyway so did a phone appointment but

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    then advise them to come in the patient

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    to come in the next day

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    um and then it comes to the medical

    4:50

    management um

    4:52

    atlantis the patient was discharged

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    atlantis which

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    like you know long-acting insulin 35

    4:57

    units twice a day

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    humalog which is the short-acting

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    insulin

    5:02

    seven units with every meal and a

    5:04

    metformin

    5:05

    500 milligrams twice a day um and the

    5:08

    patient was out of the hospital for

    5:09

    about two days i think before this

    5:10

    appointment and blood sugars at home

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    were 400

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    um and the patient was just continuing

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    on the medications that they were

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    discharged on and then came in for like

    5:18

    a wound check

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    in person for the advisement of this

    5:22

    clinician

    5:23

    and so the patient brought their blood

    5:25

    sugar log which was wonderful um there

    5:26

    was actually no baseline to compare to

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    and i i should have i should have dug

    5:29

    further in terms of getting that history

    5:32

    it's important for the long-term

    5:33

    management in terms of like the

    5:34

    management right now

    5:36

    it's okay not to have this information

    5:37

    but um

    5:40

    yeah so it sounds like the patient

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    wasn't on insulin before so it's brand

    5:43

    new

    5:43

    he's brand new to insulin and brand new

    5:45

    to checking blood sugars

    5:47

    um checking the blood sugar log as

    5:49

    directed like four times a day actually

    5:51

    um

    5:52

    the blood sugars though on follow-up

    5:54

    were in the 200s

    5:55

    and um two to four hundreds right like i

    5:59

    said four hundreds and then after meals

    6:01

    um the pre-meals and after meals were

    6:03

    like a little bit variable like around

    6:04

    the 200s and then the lowest

    6:06

    part was um the lowest numbers that he

    6:09

    was getting was around like 150

    6:11

    maybe 175 and that was actually in the

    6:13

    evening

    6:15

    so anyway hi jennifer there's a little

    6:19

    bit of a delay between the video

    6:20

    and um and my the live video and youtube

    6:23

    so

    6:24

    um feel free to jump in with any

    6:26

    questions but i'm just going over this

    6:27

    case

    6:27

    and there are so many places to start

    6:30

    with this case um and i think the reason

    6:33

    i decided to go live and review this

    6:35

    case is because a lot of the times on

    6:37

    this

    6:38

    on this website and this channel i talk

    6:39

    about particular topics that are very

    6:41

    well organized and they're concise and

    6:43

    they're step by step

    6:45

    but like the reality is is that behind

    6:47

    the scenes when i'm having these

    6:48

    conversations with conversations with my

    6:49

    mentees

    6:51

    it's messy right let real life is messy

    6:53

    this is a messy situation right because

    6:55

    there's an ideal situation right there's

    6:57

    the ideal of like you have potential

    6:59

    necrotizing fasciitis we're gonna

    7:00

    continue your antibiotics you're going

    7:02

    to get set up with home care but then

    7:03

    they don't because they don't have

    7:04

    insurance right

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    and then the other kicker about is that

    7:07

    this patient is asking to go back to

    7:08

    work

    7:09

    and it's a gaping wound it's really

    7:10

    large um and i wish i could show a

    7:12

    picture i don't think i have permission

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    to do that though

    7:14

    but it's gaping and it had surgical

    7:16

    debridement and it's packed and it has

    7:18

    special

    7:18

    stuff you know that it got discharged on

    7:20

    so

    7:22

    so yeah and and this patient is sending

    7:24

    is trying to get back to work working 12

    7:25

    hour days doing a manual job so that

    7:27

    they can

    7:28

    afford their own stuff and send money

    7:30

    back to their

    7:31

    um family members so so yeah so i think

    7:35

    that there's just like so many

    7:36

    ways to go and i think one of the points

    7:39

    i wanted to

    7:40

    that i stress with my mentees but and

    7:42

    new grads that i work with that i stress

    7:44

    in this conversation is like what are

    7:45

    those

    7:46

    i guess like what are the like there's

    7:47

    the medical management and then there's

    7:49

    like

    7:50

    the other stuff right um i'm gonna pause

    7:52

    in the medical management for a second

    7:54

    but it's like

    7:55

    my first thing that i said to her was

    7:56

    like yeah like this patient

    7:59

    like there are a couple of red flags

    8:01

    going on right now and i have to admit

    8:03

    when i was a new nurse

    8:04

    and a new nurse practitioner i had some

    8:06

    ego right

    8:08

    like i graduated from school i was eager

    8:10

    to get going

    8:11

    and i like wanted to show that i was

    8:13

    doing a good job right and i wanted to

    8:15

    prove to myself i wanted to prove to

    8:16

    others so i feel like a total imposter

    8:18

    right

    8:18

    and so i definitely remember this as a

    8:20

    nurse like i would have a patient that i

    8:22

    was having a hard time

    8:23

    that was um you know kind of declining

    8:25

    and i wanted to handle it and then all

    8:27

    the experienced nps came in and they

    8:29

    handled it for me and i was frustrated

    8:30

    so i was like trying to

    8:31

    do the thing but i think that like this

    8:34

    is like

    8:35

    very um yeah i think i think it's some i

    8:39

    just say that because i think it's

    8:40

    important to keep that in your mind if

    8:42

    you recognize that yourself as a new

    8:44

    grad

    8:44

    to like check that if you can and

    8:47

    hopefully you can

    8:48

    because it is terrifying it's like a new

    8:50

    level of terrifying but

    8:52

    i think one one place to potentially

    8:53

    start and i encourage her to start and

    8:55

    or stop slash start

    8:56

    is like this this should be a red flag

    8:58

    right there is a plan of care

    9:00

    that is not coming through and has

    9:02

    potential serious implications

    9:04

    regardless of whether or not you know

    9:05

    how to manage this or you feel

    9:06

    comfortable managing this i would let my

    9:08

    supervisor know

    9:09

    right that i was proceeding with this

    9:11

    complicated case medically and

    9:13

    socially quite honestly because i mean

    9:16

    safety patient safety is at stake here

    9:19

    and i

    9:20

    i yeah i think like keeping liability in

    9:22

    mind i mean patient safety

    9:23

    safety comes first but also liability

    9:25

    speaking there is a plan of care that

    9:27

    was recommended and you're not following

    9:28

    it right

    9:29

    it's not that you're not following it

    9:30

    the patient's not following it right so

    9:31

    i would i was like first thing we have

    9:33

    to make sure that somebody knows about

    9:34

    this

    9:35

    second thing again i think because i'm

    9:38

    in i've been several years of experience

    9:40

    at this point i feel comfortable

    9:42

    going this route right because i can see

    9:44

    the full picture versus when i was a new

    9:46

    grad i would be hyper focused on the

    9:47

    medical management which is really

    9:48

    important too but like

    9:50

    what what else is happening to help this

    9:52

    person's life right because it's really

    9:53

    hard to think about

    9:54

    what you're going to do for them

    9:55

    medically in that moment if they can't

    9:58

    do it right if they don't have the

    9:59

    resources to accommodate right

    10:02

    and especially what is the kind of like

    10:03

    half plan of care you're going to give

    10:04

    this person because

    10:06

    they're not doing the full plan that's

    10:08

    been recommended to them right

    10:10

    so anyway so um so yeah because ideally

    10:13

    this person is supposed to get iv

    10:15

    antibiotics for two weeks and go to a

    10:16

    skilled nursing facility right

    10:18

    and here they are in your office you

    10:20

    know so anyway so

    10:21

    um so i think first thing is like

    10:22

    letting the supervisor know like hey

    10:24

    this is what's going on and you can even

    10:25

    come up with your plan of care you don't

    10:26

    have to say

    10:27

    like what should i do like here's my

    10:29

    plan you know and just like reviewing it

    10:30

    together

    10:32

    and then um and then like the next part

    10:36

    again

    10:37

    like i can step out of that because i've

    10:38

    had several years of experience and i

    10:40

    see how all the pieces fit together

    10:42

    regardless of what i recommend for

    10:43

    medical stuff is like what are you gonna

    10:44

    do

    10:45

    to feed yourself right like do you like

    10:47

    so i guess like the other

    10:49

    kind of like next step is about

    10:50

    resources right um getting to the

    10:52

    medical management in a second

    10:53

    but like what can we do for this person

    10:56

    he's asking to go to back to work right

    10:58

    now he needs a note from you to

    11:00

    write it right and is he okay to go back

    11:02

    to work

    11:03

    and um his family is depending on him

    11:05

    and he needs to support himself and he's

    11:06

    like i really can't

    11:07

    not go to work there's no light duty

    11:09

    option i can't do shortened days you

    11:11

    know like having that conversation

    11:13

    um what are those potential options and

    11:15

    so i think that brings me to another

    11:16

    point that i talk about a lot with

    11:17

    mentees

    11:18

    um new and new mps is that um it's

    11:21

    assessing what the resources are

    11:23

    right and like recognizing where that

    11:25

    line is between what you need to do and

    11:27

    what your

    11:28

    your your health center needs to also be

    11:30

    a part of what do they need to be

    11:31

    involved in what do they need to know

    11:32

    about

    11:33

    so that they can support your patients

    11:35

    going forward right because

    11:36

    in the ideal world even in a community

    11:38

    health center right i work in a

    11:39

    community health center too we have

    11:40

    limited resources right

    11:42

    everyone is strapped for time everyone's

    11:43

    doing more than is

    11:45

    is part of their job description right

    11:47

    but like

    11:48

    what social like what social work um

    11:52

    you know resources do you have do you

    11:53

    have a social worker do you have a nurse

    11:54

    case manager

    11:56

    do you have a community health worker

    11:58

    right do you have health benefits

    11:59

    somebody to consult with health benefits

    12:01

    even if it's like a super part-time

    12:02

    person

    12:03

    right what are those resources in your

    12:05

    clinic that you can you know consult

    12:07

    with

    12:07

    to help with this person because that

    12:09

    should hopefully like if you can implant

    12:11

    that red flag for yourself of like oh

    12:13

    when we're getting to these places

    12:15

    somebody else needs to know about this

    12:16

    right and supervisor as well as the

    12:18

    clinical infrastructure

    12:19

    and i think that's a really hard thing

    12:20

    to understand at least i found really

    12:22

    hard to understand as a new mp and i see

    12:24

    that a lot with new grads is that like

    12:26

    what should i do and it's all on me and

    12:28

    it's like oh no no no like that's

    12:29

    it is our job to take good care of our

    12:30

    patients but it's also upon us to let

    12:32

    the managers know right and

    12:34

    what are the systemic systematic things

    12:36

    that are happening because i

    12:37

    actually know this clinic this person

    12:39

    works in and

    12:41

    i'm familiar with the population she

    12:42

    works with and

    12:44

    i know that this is not the first time

    12:45

    that this has ever happened it's not the

    12:47

    first time it's happened to her

    12:48

    and i actually am very familiar with

    12:50

    that clinic and so i know

    12:52

    that those patients this is not uncommon

    12:54

    right and this patient

    12:55

    um english is a second language for this

    12:57

    patient too

    12:58

    so um so yeah so so i think um that's

    13:01

    the conversation that we had

    13:02

    about those things and um

    13:06

    she's investigating what resources they

    13:07

    have and then is going to bring that to

    13:09

    the attention of the supervisor who's

    13:11

    going to

    13:12

    hopefully act on that right because that

    13:13

    is their job the chief medical officer

    13:15

    the operations director

    13:17

    the health center people who run the

    13:18

    health center need to know about this

    13:19

    because this is a problem for these

    13:21

    patients right

    13:22

    this is not the first time so um and

    13:24

    then the last thing i guess is the

    13:25

    medical management right the last thing

    13:28

    so i guess a couple of things just to

    13:30

    recap so this patient has diabetes

    13:31

    that's like relatively new that's pretty

    13:33

    serious

    13:34

    i don't have any labs we don't have any

    13:36

    hospital record information which is

    13:37

    another

    13:38

    tragedy and it's also like makes me

    13:41

    like laugh sadly because it happens so

    13:43

    often right um where you don't have the

    13:45

    actual record so this clinician

    13:47

    this new grad requested records to get

    13:49

    them but you want to see like what are

    13:50

    their metabolic abnormalities

    13:52

    you know um what do you need to check in

    13:55

    with you know as it relates to

    13:57

    that's usually what happens with

    13:58

    hospital discharge hospital discharge

    14:00

    information hopefully you get the actual

    14:02

    summary and they will say hey

    14:04

    recheck their bmp in a week the basic

    14:06

    metabolic panel within one week

    14:08

    or anemia within one week or whatever or

    14:11

    here is their specialist appointment

    14:13

    or their test that we ordered for them

    14:15

    to follow up with and like pearl

    14:16

    umbrella practice like at least in the

    14:18

    settings that i work um

    14:20

    federally qualified health center

    14:21

    specifically but anywhere honestly

    14:23

    just because somebody was was assigned

    14:25

    to see a specialist does not mean that

    14:26

    they understand that

    14:28

    that they have the appointment details

    14:29

    like just also checking on that that's

    14:31

    just like a general

    14:32

    purlin practice for hospital discharges

    14:34

    and actually um i'm collaborating with a

    14:36

    a physician friend of mine and i think

    14:38

    we're going to do some videos

    14:39

    specifically talking about he works in

    14:41

    the hospital and i work in primary care

    14:42

    and

    14:43

    talking about that um how do we overlap

    14:46

    and and

    14:46

    make sure that we're taking excellent

    14:47

    care of our patients right so

    14:49

    um so anyway so thinking that keeping

    14:51

    that in mind and then getting to the

    14:52

    medical management right

    14:53

    so just to recap brand new brand new

    14:56

    insulin 35 units twice a day

    14:58

    hemolog short acting insulin with meals

    15:02

    metformin 500 milligrams twice a day

    15:05

    and that's it so it's tough

    15:08

    it's really really tough and i think i i

    15:10

    can kind of like briefly get into that i

    15:11

    don't want to make this video super

    15:12

    super long but

    15:13

    um kind of like some general pearls of

    15:16

    what we talked about is like

    15:18

    my main thing for this is like patient

    15:20

    centered

    15:21

    again because i've seen this happen so

    15:23

    many times and i think when i was a new

    15:24

    grad i'd be like

    15:25

    okay like what is what exactly should i

    15:27

    do for this medical thing

    15:29

    right now you know versus like the

    15:30

    zoomed a picture of like yes

    15:32

    and like let's make sure that the

    15:33

    patient understands the directions

    15:36

    has the medication at home knows i use a

    15:38

    glucometer has in

    15:39

    has needles this patient probably should

    15:40

    have visiting nursing uh

    15:42

    services right again no insurance which

    15:44

    again should trigger hopefully financial

    15:46

    benefits if you have that option at a

    15:48

    health center and if not then the

    15:50

    supervisor needs to know that this is

    15:51

    a problem right and hopefully they

    15:53

    already recognize that but that's on us

    15:54

    to bring it to their attention

    15:56

    um and help you know of course like not

    15:59

    just complaining but bringing solutions

    16:00

    if we can

    16:01

    and suggestions of like hey i'm noticing

    16:03

    that this is an issue i

    16:04

    really think it's important that we

    16:07

    investigate this as an option right

    16:09

    because there are grants there are

    16:10

    there are other things again outside of

    16:12

    the scope of the primary care provider

    16:14

    but

    16:14

    something to important to think about um

    16:17

    hey maria um please correct me if i'm

    16:21

    saying your name wrong there's a little

    16:22

    bit of a delay between um

    16:24

    the video and actually youtube um but

    16:27

    yeah so

    16:28

    um so again like keeping that focus in

    16:30

    mind um

    16:32

    because the blood sugars are still high

    16:33

    like in the 250s i'm very concerned

    16:35

    about that

    16:36

    i am really concerned about that right

    16:37

    but like again like keeping in mind that

    16:39

    whole picture of like

    16:40

    we can adjust insulin all we want to do

    16:42

    but if the patient's not going to come

    16:43

    back

    16:44

    if they're going to decompensate like

    16:45

    what's the worst case scenario that's

    16:46

    going to happen because of this wound

    16:48

    that's not getting antibiotics that

    16:49

    doesn't have a picc line that is not

    16:50

    seeing wound care

    16:51

    right and the patient wants to go back

    16:53

    to work right so this is

    16:54

    actually still underway this is not

    16:56

    concluded um this is a current

    16:58

    um recent case we're gonna talk about

    17:01

    but um but yeah i think it's a

    17:03

    conversation with the patient of like

    17:05

    listen the diabetes

    17:06

    blood sugars are really high we need

    17:07

    that to we need to bring those down into

    17:09

    range so that your wound can heal

    17:11

    i'm also very concerned about the fact

    17:13

    that you don't have a prescribed wound

    17:14

    regimen

    17:15

    that you don't have a wound care

    17:16

    provider that you don't um

    17:19

    have these id antibiotics for two weeks

    17:20

    right um and so the other thing that i

    17:22

    kind of talked about and i'm sorry again

    17:24

    this is getting a little bit around and

    17:25

    around

    17:26

    um which is why i hesitate to share

    17:28

    videos like this because

    17:29

    anyway it's messy it's messy one of the

    17:31

    other things that i recommend

    17:32

    in addition to finding the general

    17:34

    hospital records is infectious disease

    17:36

    consult

    17:36

    so that's another kind of like flag

    17:38

    that's in my mind now having years of

    17:40

    experience is that

    17:41

    when patients are discharged home with

    17:43

    ib antibiotics or a picc line

    17:45

    typically there's been an infectious

    17:47

    disease consult to get to that point

    17:48

    especially with a kind of like zebra

    17:50

    diagnosis

    17:51

    of necrotizing fasciitis right um

    17:54

    so yeah so so adjusting the insulin

    17:57

    right and doing it in a safe way this

    17:59

    patient is checking their blood sugars

    18:00

    following the directions coming to the

    18:01

    follow-up appointments

    18:03

    doing as they've been asked um you know

    18:05

    and have been following

    18:07

    all of the directions you know which is

    18:09

    helpful

    18:10

    right because hopefully you're getting

    18:11

    in the right direction but um the

    18:13

    patient unfortunately needs to go up

    18:14

    it's a lot of insulin but

    18:15

    likely needs to continue to go up

    18:17

    because those blood sugars are so high

    18:19

    and there's a really great algorithm and

    18:20

    up to date that i love about

    18:22

    insulin management and type 2 diabetes

    18:24

    um and there's like a whole

    18:26

    whole flow i love my algorithms but it's

    18:28

    uh usually starts at like

    18:30

    0.2 units per kilogram per day

    18:33

    0.2 to 0.4 um this is also in the ace

    18:36

    guidelines too

    18:37

    um and then you go up based on the

    18:39

    fasting blood sugars

    18:40

    um three two to four units every three

    18:43

    days

    18:44

    which is like i can rattle that off

    18:46

    right so i've done it a million times

    18:47

    but like

    18:48

    for a patient or for a new provider like

    18:50

    that's confusing right so i think that's

    18:52

    one other kind of thing that we talked

    18:53

    about is that like we have options here

    18:55

    and we can follow those directions but

    18:56

    how are we going to do it

    18:57

    right because i've act like you can go

    18:59

    the kind of textbook route and advise

    19:00

    somebody to do that

    19:02

    but like are they going to be able to

    19:03

    follow those directions so typically

    19:04

    when this happens with patients i'm

    19:05

    having them come i

    19:06

    have a conversation with them right it's

    19:08

    all about conversations with them and

    19:09

    getting patients to buy in and getting

    19:11

    patients understanding right because i

    19:12

    can tell them things all day but if i

    19:14

    don't they don't understand and they

    19:15

    don't agree to it they're not going to

    19:16

    do it right

    19:17

    so i'm just explaining to them like

    19:18

    listen it's really important get your

    19:20

    blood sugar

    19:21

    into range so that your wound can heal

    19:23

    better and this is what i recommend is

    19:26

    slowly but gradually increasing these

    19:28

    numbers until your blood sugars are this

    19:29

    number

    19:30

    so please continue to keep your log you

    19:32

    have the option of doing it at home

    19:34

    we'll just spread it out to one week you

    19:36

    can come in every week with a diabetes

    19:38

    educator we have one well we have one of

    19:40

    those at my clinic

    19:41

    um or one of the nurses or even myself

    19:43

    right if you don't have those resources

    19:44

    but

    19:45

    touching base with somebody and then

    19:47

    advising of hypoglycemia stuff like that

    19:49

    and then

    19:50

    um gradually like endocrinologists will

    19:52

    do that too usually if somebody's on

    19:53

    this kind of regimen i'm having them

    19:54

    touch base with endocrinology but again

    19:56

    this patient doesn't have insurance

    19:57

    so i'm doing the best that i can

    19:59

    informing them getting

    20:01

    them to kind of verbalize understanding

    20:03

    and have buy-in right because a patient

    20:04

    also lives like an hour almost an hour

    20:06

    away

    20:07

    right this case is just it's so common

    20:09

    and it's so complicated and it's also

    20:11

    like so heartbreaking but

    20:12

    um but yeah that's the general like

    20:14

    algorithm of the insulin management is

    20:16

    to go up that gradual gradual gradual

    20:18

    amount

    20:19

    every three days or so but again

    20:22

    shifting it in a way that is

    20:23

    patient-centered right and this is like

    20:24

    moral of the story like i've said so

    20:26

    much already

    20:27

    hey anna um like there's a lot to think

    20:30

    about in this case and there's a lot of

    20:32

    people to involve and

    20:34

    there's a lot of risk right and i think

    20:37

    that

    20:37

    because this is again this is an ongoing

    20:39

    case um

    20:41

    as best as possible getting the hospital

    20:43

    discharge records and any consults in

    20:45

    the hospital especially like infectious

    20:46

    disease

    20:47

    to get their recommendations their final

    20:49

    recommendations of like are you doing

    20:50

    the cephalosporin

    20:51

    iv for two weeks just in case because

    20:53

    you were suspicious about necrotizing

    20:55

    fasciitis versus did they give an

    20:57

    alternative knowing that he wasn't going

    20:58

    to go to a skilled nursing facility

    21:00

    right hopefully hopefully someone

    21:02

    acknowledged that before he left

    21:03

    hopefully there was a social worker in

    21:05

    the hospital or a case manager

    21:06

    right and then the doctors were informed

    21:08

    or the or the care providers were

    21:09

    informed

    21:10

    so that they gave alternative

    21:11

    suggestions right and then again

    21:13

    just like full disclosure i don't have

    21:14

    all the answers to everything all the

    21:16

    time

    21:16

    but i know where to find things so

    21:18

    necrotizing fasciitis i've like read

    21:20

    about

    21:20

    right i don't like see that every day so

    21:23

    i would go

    21:24

    and this is what i told the mentee i was

    21:26

    working with i was like my up-to-date

    21:27

    subscriptions actually lapsed

    21:29

    so this is what i would do and i would

    21:30

    encourage you to do so i don't have that

    21:31

    answer right now

    21:32

    but like looking at necrotizing

    21:34

    fasciitis what are the alarm signs and

    21:35

    symptoms to watch out for

    21:37

    what are the general treatments are

    21:39

    there any potential things that i can

    21:40

    find that talk about

    21:42

    peo treatment of necrotizing fasciitis

    21:44

    suspected

    21:45

    and involving my supervisor because that

    21:47

    seems very like i don't know what that

    21:49

    line is but hopefully i'm imparting to

    21:50

    you that there's this line here that

    21:52

    this is like okay i need to start

    21:53

    thinking about other people

    21:55

    being involved here right and i think

    21:57

    that unfortunately some of that comes

    21:58

    with time

    21:59

    of seeing what is normal and what's not

    22:01

    normal

    22:03

    in quotations right and what's expected

    22:04

    and what's not expected in terms of the

    22:06

    realm of primary care and what's

    22:07

    appropriate and what's not

    22:09

    if that makes sense so um so yeah so i

    22:11

    was concerned about

    22:12

    checking labs getting those notes from

    22:14

    infectious disease likely

    22:16

    probably again that cue in your mind if

    22:18

    they're discharging iv antibiotics they

    22:19

    probably had an id consult

    22:21

    in the hospital um safety about diabetes

    22:25

    they know how to check their blood sugar

    22:26

    they know the signs of hypoglycemia

    22:27

    here's how we adjust the um

    22:29

    you know insulin and then from there um

    22:32

    doing regular check-in so this patient

    22:34

    didn't want to come back

    22:35

    for about a week and still again is

    22:38

    insistent upon that note to go back to

    22:39

    work but i whatever the conversation

    22:40

    that i have with the mentee and again

    22:41

    there's no conclusion here

    22:43

    she bought herself a week which is what

    22:45

    i would do

    22:47

    of like hey listen there's no way we're

    22:48

    going back in the next week

    22:50

    right so like let's just see how it is

    22:53

    in a week

    22:54

    see what social services we can have

    22:56

    involved see how your supervisor can get

    22:58

    involved how your clinic

    22:59

    on a systematic way can be involved in

    23:01

    this travesty of a case

    23:03

    right and then um

    23:06

    yeah and then just articulating with the

    23:08

    patient it's a it's like a rock and a

    23:09

    hard place here and so that's why i'm

    23:10

    really like i

    23:11

    in massachusetts where i practice and i

    23:13

    live there's a

    23:14

    you know department of transitional

    23:15

    assistance there are social service

    23:17

    programs that people can

    23:19

    get support in the interim so that

    23:21

    they're not starving so that they don't

    23:22

    lose their

    23:23

    home you know like that kind of stuff so

    23:24

    like what can we do to take care of them

    23:26

    and buy stuff by some time because the

    23:28

    real like

    23:30

    there's a lot of pressure to sign that

    23:31

    note for that patient to go back to work

    23:32

    for 12 hours a day doing manual labor

    23:34

    huge gaping wound on his thigh right but

    23:37

    like

    23:37

    what is the implication if he goes back

    23:39

    it gets a lot worse it gets infected

    23:42

    you know and he's hospitalized for weeks

    23:44

    you know what i mean so

    23:45

    i think it's i think that's that's how

    23:47

    we kind of left things and we're gonna

    23:48

    check in

    23:49

    um but that's basically that's basically

    23:51

    that that whole

    23:53

    sad case um hi liz oh i'm so glad i'm so

    23:57

    glad

    23:58

    i'm i don't know if you how how long you

    24:00

    were here for but this is like

    24:02

    this is i i'm i'm i like sharing

    24:05

    i just i got i just was so inspired by

    24:07

    our conversation of this like

    24:08

    it's really important to see behind the

    24:10

    scenes of how messy this is right and

    24:12

    how ugly

    24:13

    and not elegant this medical management

    24:15

    is

    24:16

    and like i guess the i guess those other

    24:18

    things to i love to just in part is like

    24:20

    how all the systems work together

    24:21

    depending on where you are in your

    24:22

    practice if you're still in school or if

    24:24

    you're currently practicing of like

    24:25

    who the specialists are what they do

    24:28

    what your clinic

    24:29

    is responsible for what you're

    24:30

    responsible for and like

    24:32

    your role that is so important because i

    24:34

    think that sometimes too

    24:35

    people don't want to make waves i've

    24:36

    seen a lot of new grads talking about

    24:38

    that

    24:38

    they don't want to make waves and

    24:39

    complain and all the stuff and they want

    24:41

    to do it all themselves or they think

    24:42

    that they have to do it all themselves

    24:44

    and i just want to encourage you that

    24:45

    like that is not the case i mean

    24:47

    we do have to go above and beyond for

    24:48

    people right and

    24:50

    that's takes so much heart and it takes

    24:52

    um so much caring and it's hard to

    24:54

    separate because we care so much

    24:55

    but like ultimately i can tell you from

    24:57

    being burned out that that is

    24:59

    10 to 10 do not recommend you know on a

    25:02

    consistent basis like

    25:04

    yeah i'm just a very systems but focused

    25:06

    person at this point and

    25:08

    um i don't know i don't know it's just

    25:11

    not right it's not right our healthcare

    25:13

    system and i know liz i know

    25:14

    you are having a hard time with your

    25:17

    health care troubles and

    25:18

    where you practice but um

    25:22

    yeah yeah it's it's not pretty um

    25:25

    but yeah um it's a little bit delayed so

    25:27

    it looks like i'm still talking on the

    25:29

    screen

    25:30

    but if you have questions um please let

    25:33

    me know

    25:34

    and i'm happy to answer whatever i can

    25:36

    again i can't really speak to

    25:37

    necrotizing fasciitis

    25:38

    because i need to read about it on up to

    25:41

    date

    25:42

    myself and that's literally what i would

    25:43

    do if somebody came to me and i would

    25:45

    just like refresh my memory of

    25:46

    any shreds of what i've learned before

    25:49

    um

    25:50

    to like see what things to watch out for

    25:52

    um but hopefully again your supervisor

    25:55

    can help with that

    26:00

    [Music]

    26:04

    cool well um i think i'm going to sign

    26:06

    off but um

    26:08

    thank you so much for hanging out i

    26:09

    really appreciate it

    26:11

    um and i'd love to i guess like hear

    26:14

    your

    26:14

    um yeah like any any um either topic

    26:18

    suggestions or

    26:20

    um difficult case things we can we can

    26:23

    definitely chat about that

    26:27

    but yeah anyway thanks for hanging out

    26:31

    talk to you soon

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