December: Face to Face

It is not always easy to connect with the patients participating in my hypertension case management project. I am supposed to call with patients who have been lent home blood pressure monitors each month to follow-up on their blood pressure readings and self management goals. Surprisingly I have a found that more than a few of the nine patients participating prefer to make the extra trip into clinic and do our check-in face to face. I had been playing phone tag with one patient in particular for a few weeks. He happened to come into clinic one day for a follow up with his primary care doctor, and wandered up to my desk as he was waiting to be registered. “Are you Erin?” he asked tentatively. Recognizing his voice form our previous phone conversations I said “Why yes I am, and you must be Ron.* Its so nice to put a face to a name.” He was just as pleased to match a face to the voice that left him messages each month. I asked if he had time to check in after his appointment with the doctor, and he returned a while later ready to talk. He had a complicated medical case and was not keeping good track of his hypertension due to other worries and problems. Throughout our conversation I tried hard to pick out the things he was really concerned about that may be a good place to start. He was not really willing to pick one goal to work on, but was recognizing that there were many things that could change. I empathized with his complicated situation and encouraging him to take things one step at a time. We were able to make one goal that he would be willing to revisit when we checked in January after he’d had some testing done for his other health concerns. We had a wonderful conversation and he felt very comfortable sharing his worries with me. I knew he would respond well with a little more encouragement and could handle a little more push to make some small lifestyle changes the next time we talked. As he stood up to leave my desk, we talked about our next check in. He said “you know, I’d really prefer to come in and talk with you in person if that’s possible. It really was a pleasure meeting you.” I guess a little personal connection can go a long way.

*Name changed to protect patient confidentiality