Questions to ask new CF clinic?

[SaraNoH]

For my 3rd clinical assignment I'm going to southern Oregon for 2 months. I'm seriously considering moving to Oregon within the next 1-2 years, which means new docs etc.

While I'm in Oregon I'd like to take a weekend and go to Portland and check out the CF center there and talk to someone (social worker?) But I don't really know what questions I need to be asking as I've lived in the same city for all of my life and have never had to "interview" centers.

My biggest question for them is, "Do you have an adult CF program?" Because no one in this state does that's for sure.

What would you ask a CF center? How would you interview them? Thanks a bunch

 

[Printer]

Sara:

There are two adult clinics in Portland:

Kalser Permanente Northwest Regional
Richard C. Cohen, MD
(503) 331-6577


Oregon Health & Science University
Gopal Alada, MD
(503) 494-1602


I would be interested in health safety precautions. Waiting Room? Contact Precautions? PFTs done in exam room?

Bill

 

[harrabell]

We live in Oregon and attend the Kaiser clinic. They are wonderful! And Dr. Cohen is actually retiring, so your contact person is actuallt Dr. Jennifer Bass who we adore. My child is only 11 months, so I am probably not a good source of information for you, but good luck! Oregon is fantadtic!

 

[kosdancer]

I just switched to an adult center from peds but nevertheless didn't do so blindly - I definitely interviewed my doc.
My advice:
You don't just want to talk to a social worker; you want to talk to everybody that will be involved in your care, especially your doctor. If you hate the one doctor you'd have to see all the time, it's not going to be a good fit. Things I asked (and wish I'd asked)
- When are clinic days? (My clinic only has Thursdays but if you're urgently sick they can usually make an exception)
- How do I get ahold of the nurse/doctor?
- What happens if my lung function starts to drop? Would you immediately jump to IVs, would we try orals/inhaled abx?
- What do you think are the most important aspects to CF care? (i.e. exercise, treatments - do they value what you value?)
- If I need a PICC line, do you insist on a hospital stay or can I do at-home IVs?
- Am I seen by the same doctor every visit?
- How often do you do screenings like x-rays/labs/OGTTs/DEXA scans?
- What's your belief on when to use different antibiotics? (for instance I'm just permanently on inhaled abx and my new docs aren't really crazy about this.)
- Think about if you have any special circumstances that have resulted in any kind of conflict with docs in the past. For instance, I can't use cipro because it gives me seizures; in my mind there's no doubt that this is a fact, but doctors don't like to believe it. So I immediately had to establish that cipro wasn't going to be an option even though I'm resistant to a lot of other things - if the new docs had been vehemently against it we would've looked somewhere else. So think about if you have anything that would fall into a category like that.

Hope this helps! The biggest thing I would say, which I think you seem to know, is to definitely look at it as an interview. You do not have to go to these doctors; you have other options and ultimately you're paying them to do you a service, so they need to do their job well and they need to do it in a way that is respectful of your needs.

 

[SaraNoH]

Awesome suggestion guys! Thanks a ton

It's kind of exciting that there's 2 centers in Portland. Oh the choices.... I really want it to work out because I absolutely love love love Oregon. I never want to leave when I go (one of my sisters lives in the Medford area).

Also I'm really curious as to how other clinics operate; I only have 1 reference and it's kind of sad.