In this episode of The Connected Care Team podcast, Dr. Kai Romero, chief medical officer at By the Bay Health, discusses mission-driven work, how communication technology streamlines the use of interdisciplinary teams in palliative care, and the importance of connectedness.

Mission-driven healthcare

Like many healthcare professionals, Dr. Kai Romero’s interest in medicine was rooted in family. Her father, a family practice physician who immigrated to the United States at the age of thirteen, instilled in Dr. Romero the importance of mission-driven work. With that as her guiding compass, Dr. Romero originally pursued emergency medicine before ultimately being drawn to hospice and palliative medicine. Her training in emergency medicine led her to quickly realize that the healthcare system is very challenging for seriously ill individuals and that emergency rooms cannot always meet their needs.

“You wouldn’t imagine it, but there’s quite a bit of overlap between the two fields, primarily in the sense hospice patients have the same emergencies as ER patients do. They just happen at home without an IV and without advanced equipment to manage them. And as a result, you have to do a lot of similar problem-solving and thoughtful diagnosis and treatment, but you’re doing it all within a far more resource-limited setting. – Dr. Kai Romero

Reliable patient and provider communication

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a challenge for many healthcare organizations to physically provide care for patients. In addition to challenges with COVID-19, By the Bay Health has also encountered challenges during fire season in the Bay Area. Highways are often inaccessible during large fires, and the air quality is also a concern for staff who need to visit patients at their homes. With these challenges, the organization relies on fast and reliable communication to keep both staff and patients connected. By the Bay Health implemented TigerConnect Patient Engagement as a flexible solution to connect with both patients and interdisciplinary teams. 

“One hallmark of hospice and palliative medicine is the use of interdisciplinary teams to care for patients. So, it’s not just a nurse or a doctor, it’s also a social worker, a chaplain. And what the use of [the technology] has done is basically made it much easier to create a multipart interdisciplinary meeting with families so that it’s not reliant on any one person’s particular schedule, ability to drive X, Y, and Z location.” – Dr. Kai Romero

An opportunity for connectedness

In addition to palliative care, By the Bay Health also provides hospice, home health, and pediatric care services. The TigerConnect implementation was well-received by staff, with a large adoption on the palliative care side. With many in the organization still remote due to the pandemic, the technology has proven beneficial in connecting staff and shaping their patient communication.

“When I’m in a meeting and I hear a social worker describe what it is that they’re doing around existential grief with a patient, it shapes how I talk about symptom management or goals of care. And I think that kind of real-time learning from your peers is greatly enhanced by just having more exposure to them.” – Dr. Kai Romero

Related:

●      Connect with Dr. Kai Romero on LinkedIn

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