Co-management in healthcare

Co-management in healthcare is a necessity for the successful outcome of any treatment plan. Most diseases and dysfunctions are associated with other organs or disorders, which call for the opinion of another expert in the pertinent field.

Co-management is different from parallel management of a disease complex. It is essentially a holistic approach in the calculated management of a disease, which involves mutual communications between the engaged clinicians. The communication might not always be face-to-face, it may sometimes be by a phone call, email, message or achieved by cross-referencing of available medical records.

In parallel management of a disease, there is no mutual sharing of information; multiple clinicians might be treating a patient with a condition that may involve several systems not known to one another. This is not only unwise and non-scientific, it may also not have the desired medical effect. Separate treatment modalities might be hazardous to a client’s health.

This is something we have been observing on a daily basis due to lack of previous medical records of a client. Therefore, should a serving institute be retaining medical records, they ought to provide a dispatch slip to the client, with brief information about the disease and intervention carried out.

While dealing with a particular subject or client, the course may require a number of inputs, expertise and treatment options. A professor might be in the same team with his fresh graduates.

Not surprisingly, co-management seems to be working well even within the same profession if one thinks the horizon of knowledge in a particular case is less than that of the other. Furthermore, secondary opinion in the treatment strategy always helps in exploring better results.

It is also advisable to discuss cases that seemingly exact multiple follow-up visits with colleagues.

If you are absent at a particular time, then an informed colleague will be there to continue at the same time.

Like people in every other profession, a doctor does have his own issues and personal life.

Sudden relocation is quite normal in human life. I too am a health service provider, and we cannot predict when and where we will be relocated until it is too late to inform your clients.

In this case scenario as well, an informed colleague, who takes over from you could be a boon.

Referring or getting the required expert opinion from a senior or super-specialist does not make us, as clinicians, small but rather great. It ultimately helps us obtain the best-possible treatment and quick recovery of the client.

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