Raise the Line Michael Carrese, Shiv Gaglani

In a word cloud generated from this episode of Raise the Line, ‘communication’ would dominate: communication between the immune system, nervous system and connective tissue; communication between patients and providers; and communication among providers to solve challenging diagnostic puzzles. As our special series on post-acute infection syndromes continues, host Raven Baxter of the Cohen Center for Recovery from Complex Chronic Illnesses (CoRE) is joined by neurologist Dr. Ilene Ruhoy, immunologist Dr. Anne Maitland and physical therapist Dr. Valerie Iovine Rogers to unravel the interconnectedness at work in these diseases and reveal key insights about caring for patients. “In the complex disease world, there isn’t a nice protocol that we have in other parts of medicine, so it takes a lot of listening and a lot of trial and error,” says Dr. Ruhoy. “The most important thing is to continue digging into that story and building that practitioner-patient relationship so that there's trust there,” adds Dr. Maitland. All agree that a lack of specialists in mast cell activation syndrome, hypermobility disorders and related areas puts a premium on developing referral networks so that diagnostic roadblocks do not end the search for answers. “It really harps on the importance of an interdisciplinary care team where all of us have to communicate with one another and educate the patient so they know what they're advocating for and where they need to go,” Dr. Rogers explains. Don’t miss this instructive conversation on both the art of patient care and the science of these often debilitating illnesses.

Mentioned in this episode:
Mount Sinai Health System (www.mountsinai.org)

Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation (www.stevenandalex.org)

If we didn’t know Dr. Brian Ogendi, we might be concerned about someone being able to pull off a residency and two fellowships while being a father of two young boys, but we do know Brian through his work with our Osmosis Medical Education Fellows (OMEF) program in which he played a major role while earning both his MD and MBA degrees. In other words, we’re not worried. Host Hillary Acer checked in with Brian recently as he was wrapping up med school and preparing to start a residency in Internal Medicine/Physician-Scientist Pathway at UVA Health with a fellowship in infectious disease and critical care medicine. “For me, medicine and research really go hand in hand. They enhance each other, they sharpen each other,” he explains. He’s already demonstrated that in his role as research advisor to the OMEF program where he drew on his work at the NIH and elsewhere to provide grounding and encouragement to learners. Brian is hoping to put all of this education and experience to work providing care to underserved communities both in the United States and in his native Kenya, leveraging a global network built through Osmosis to do so. Don’t miss this uplifting installment in our Next Gen Journeys series full of advice on juggling heavy workloads and family responsibilities while gaining the skills to become an effective, community-minded physician.

Mentioned in this episode:
UVA Health - https://uvahealth.com/

“Tick-borne illnesses are incredibly stealthy and complicated and if I wasn't living and breathing it every day and seeing the intensity of these symptoms in patients, I would never believe it,” says Shannon Delaney, a psychiatrist in private practice in New York City. The complexity of such illnesses and the symptoms they cause is a key reason it can often take years to reach a diagnosis, which is the focus of this episode of Raise the Line, part of a special series on post-acute infection syndromes that Osmosis from Elsevier has created in partnership with the Cohen Center for Recovery from Complex Chronic Illnesses (CoRE) at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital. In addition to Dr. Delaney, host Dr. Raven Baxter of CoRE welcomes Dr. Amy Kontorovich, an associate professor in Cardiology and Genomic Medicine at the Icahn School and Dr. David Putrino, director of Rehabilitation Innovation at Mount Sinai, to explore the limitations of current diagnostic tools and protocols and what changes are needed to improve patient care. Key themes include developing better tests for pathogens and educating providers to listen more carefully to patients. “In a typical medical encounter, the biggest dropped ball is completely disregarding an acute infection in the medical history,” stresses Putrino. All agree that providers need to be more comfortable with uncertainty and resist the urge to develop treatment plans that don’t address root causes. “If more doctors could just say, ‘I don't know’ I think it would do a great service to patients," adds Kontorovich. This is a candid and enlightening discussion about the importance of developing a collaborative, patient-centered mindset to provide the best care for those suffering with a range of post-acute infection syndromes.

Mentioned in this episode:
Mount Sinai Health System (www.mountsinai.org)
Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation (www.stevenandalex.org)

Today, we add another voice to our ongoing conversation on Raise the Line about how to improve the nurse staffing crisis faced by the US healthcare system. That voice belongs to Bhavdeep Singh, founder and CEO of Global MedTeam, a startup focused on bringing foreign-born nurses to the US to fill staff shortages. When Singh, who has deep experience in healthcare management, learned from a hospital executive that the annualized cost of employing one travel nurse can reach into hundreds of thousands of dollars in some locations, he realized there was room, and a need, for new approaches. “There's some wonderful work being done in this space, whether it's process improvement, remote monitoring, or software to make sure that we have the right kind of scheduling…all of these things are very helpful, but that's not going to get us to where we need to be. We will still have a huge shortage.” Singh believes employing pre-credentialed nurses from abroad, especially from the Philippines which has a long history of sending nurses to the US, is a viable part of the solution and his firm has put processes in place to make it a turnkey experience for employers. “We handle everything for the client including immigration from start to finish.” Join host Michael Carrese as he explores potential healthcare impacts on the “supplying” countries, the storied reputation of Filipino nurses and how this approach might also work for shortages in allied health professions.

Mentioned in this episode: https://globalmedteam.com/

Today, we’re excited to bring you the first episode in a special Raise the Line series that Osmosis from Elsevier has created in partnership with the Cohen Center for Recovery from Complex Chronic Illnesses (CoRE) at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital. PAIS: Root Causes, Drivers, and Actionable Solutions is a ten-part examination of a range of post-acute infection syndromes such as long COVID, tick-borne illness, chronic fatigue syndrome, and connective tissue disorders. Your host, Dr. Raven Baxter, a molecular biologist and Director of Science Communication at CoRE, will be joined by an impressive array of specialists in the field to explore causes, symptoms, diagnoses and treatments, as well as the devastating impact on patients who often struggle for many months or even years with a troubling span of symptoms affecting everything from muscle movement to mental health. As you’ll learn in the series, diagnostic protocols are lacking for many of these conditions, leading to delayed treatment and prolonged suffering for patients. In this inaugural episode, Dr. Baxter is joined by microbiologist Dr. Amy Proal, CEO of the PolyBio Research Foundation; Yale University Professor of Immunobiology, Dr. Akiko Iwasaki; and Dr. Edward Breitschwerdt, Professor of Medicine and Infectious Diseases at North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine who will discuss the Building Blocks of PAIS.

Mentioned in this episode:
Mount Sinai Health System (www.mountsinai.org)
Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation (www.stevenandalex.org)

For those proponents of psychedelic-assisted therapy concerned that demand for therapists will outstrip supply in the coming years, you may be reassured by today’s conversation with Dr. Ingmar Gorman and Dr. Elizabeth Nielson, psychologists who have been involved in FDA-approved clinical trials of MDMA and psilocybin, and the co-founders of a company called Fluence Training which is working to scale education for this purpose. As they explain to host Shiv Gaglani, they see their task, broadly speaking, as serving three categories of people: those with general interest in the field; all types of clinicians who want to be able to have informed conversations with patients wishing to discuss their current and/or future use; and those who want to become therapists in this modality. Fluence is especially well-positioned for that last group because of Gorman’s and Nielson’s involvement in designing therapy protocols in clinical trials, but also because of their work developing therapy manuals for drug companies. “If and when their drugs go to market, we’ll be able to train clinicians in the community who will be working with those compounds,” says Gorman. One bottom line message in this richly-informed discussion is that the field needs all comers and they hope people aren’t dissuaded by misconceptions about what’s required. “We hear all the time, 'I want to be involved, but I’d have to go back to school and get all these years of clinical experience' when the reality is there's just so many ways now to get involved,” says Nielson. This is a great overview of the status of training, the potential pitfalls awaiting the field, the importance of managing patient expectations, and much more.

Mentioned in this episode: https://www.fluencetraining.com