Virtual pediatric care, managing anxieties and balancing medications: the Pager Command Center experience
Our Command Center – composed of nurses and care coordinators delivering care and support to patients – is at the heart of everything we do at Pager. Our nurses and care coordinators work directly with patients, 24/7, to provide meaningful care and services make a significant impact on patient health and provide a positive patient experience.
We’re kicking off our Command Center Stories series where we chat with care coordinators and nurses to learn more about the ways they’ve been able to make an impact on their patients. In our first edition, we speak with Luci Benson, RN, a Senior Nurse Navigator, who shares details about some of the ways she’s been able to provide meaningful care and support to patients virtually.
Tell us about one of your experiences with a patient and how you were able to help them.
I had a client who came in for treatment for his wife. All of a sudden, his wife had a dizzy spell and almost fainted. She was vomiting and had several other symptoms. He was in panic mode, because she was otherwise healthy, and this happened really quickly.
I asked them what kind of symptoms she was having and made sure she was coherent. That was a basic emergency room question, because if she wasn’t coherent, then I'd send her to the emergency room. Thankfully, she was.
It turns out she was taking a new medication that was the cause of her issue. It was a medication for cardiac issues that I was very familiar with from my clinical experience, and I know the strong side effects it can have.
Once I had that information, I was able to tell them, "You don't have to panic. It's okay, this can happen." So I instructed him to help her sit up, and to give her some air and some sips of water – the types of things that help bring that response down.
I said, "If this happens again, definitely take her to the emergency room," because that means something might not be right.
I also told her to hold off on taking the medication again until she speaks with one of her doctors. Sometimes people can be a little sensitive to medications, so the doctor can adjust the dose, or put them on something different – plus, it’s important the doctor knows that she had this reaction.
I felt really good about that because I stayed with him until the end, until his wife’s response had subsided and she was feeling better. I even asked him about himself. I asked, "How are you doing? I know your wife is stable now, but how are you feeling?" And then I provided him with educational material to help him understand what happened. That material had interventions that explain what to do if this happens. So it also helped him if that ever happens again.
“To feel comfortable reaching out is important. Sometimes in in-person healthcare settings, things can feel like an assembly line. With our platform, we have the time to listen to our patients... and I think that’s the difference.”
Was there a time that you've seen patients approaching virtual care differently than they do in-person care?
Virtual, remote care can be a really great alternative for patients with anxiety. I once had a patient who was having anxiety, and so I actually called her on the phone. We just spoke about things she was going through, COVID-19, and other things like that. We were able to chat, and that helped her relax a little and put things into perspective. Just hearing someone on the phone gave her the understanding that there was another person who was looking out for her.
She was able to calm down and know that someone's here for her, and that she could open up the chat anytime. I reiterated that we're available 24 hours a day, so if she's feeling this way again, she shouldn’t hesitate to reach out. I think that gives people a little bit of comfort in knowing that someone is there anytime you need, even at three o'clock in the morning when you're feeling anxious, sick, or just need to talk to someone.
To feel comfortable reaching out is important. Sometimes in in-person healthcare settings, things can feel like an assembly line, because providers have so many patients to treat. And everyone has questions, everyone's anxious, and hospital settings can be scary. There can be so many people you don't remember who's who. The nurse is really the glue to all of that, but a lot of times as nurses we're split into eight different pieces because of a number of factors, so we don't really have a lot of time to spend with each patient.
But with our platform, we have the time to listen to our patients, because we’re able to chat with multiple patients simultaneously, and serve one patient while another is answering our last message. I don't rush them. I allow people to express themselves, and I think that's the difference.
How else have you been able to support patients in this virtual setting?
We see a lot of mothers come in with questions about their infant’s health. Just the other day I had a mother start a chat. She had a young infant who was having trouble breathing.
I told her, "Take the baby to the emergency room. Don’t hesitate," which I think was the second opinion she needed to hear.
I just let her know, "They'll take her immediately. Breathing problems take precedence over everything.” If you can't breathe, that's a top concern, because once you have trouble breathing, other parts of your body will start to shut down.
A lot of people don't have a support network – maybe she didn't have someone else with experience with young children that she could turn to for advice. Being a mother is a challenge, especially with young children, because there's no manual on how to take care of a child. There's no one around you to tell you when something's not right.
And, you don’t want to have to make those expensive trips to the emergency room or to the urgent care center if it’s not necessary. So, it was good that she had the ability to open up a chat and ask a nurse, so I could provide the guidance to take her baby to the doctor. It’s another really valuable way to provide care virtually.
Learn more about Senior Nurse Navigator Luci Benson, RN in our most recent #PeoplePowerPager interview.
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