Dr. Tina Sadarangani
Larchmont specialist emphasizes good communication skills; channels personal experience into creation of free application to help others
By Claudine Hutton-The Larchmont-Mamaroneck Local Summit
Amidst an overburdened health care system, it’s more critical than ever that patients and their caregivers learn to effectively advocate for themselves. And sometimes, technology can help.
That was the message from Dr. Tina Sadarangani, geriatric specialist and professor at the NYU School of Medicine and College of Nursing, at the November 11th meeting of the Larchmont-Mamaroneck Local Summit.
“I believe that healthcare providers in this country care deeply,” said Dr. Sadarangani. “[But] they are working within a system that is fundamentally broken and challenged….so you need to really help them and push for the care you need.”
In her hour-long talk, Dr. Sadarangani interlaced professional knowledge with insights from caring for her own father, who was diagnosed with end-stage kidney disease after a Covid infection in 2021. She said learning to manage his treatment was eye-opening. “I’ve spent much time in school and gotten a lot of training, and none of that could have prepared me to sit on the other side as caregiver.”
Like many, they suffered long waits, fragmented and delayed care, and the stress of overburdened practitioners. And, under the current model known as “shared decision-making,” it became increasingly evident how much was expected from them. “It’s no longer ‘doctor knows best,’” she said. “It’s you coming to the table and saying ‘OK doctor, tell me a little bit more about that. Tell me what my alternative options are.”
As the self-described “quarterback” of her father’s care team, she also realized the importance of making the most of their time with his physicians. (According to peer-reviewed research, the average time a primary care physician spends with a patient is about 18 minutes, and patients tend to speak for only a fraction of that.)
That means good communication skills are essential. Unfortunately, patients and their caregivers often show up for appointments unprepared: they lack critical data, forget the questions they meant to ask, or miss key points their doctor was trying to convey. All of these missteps can lead to less-than-optimal outcomes. If multiple family members are involved, communication can feel like a game of telephone.
So to help patients and caregivers take better control of their care, Dr. Sadarangani and her team at NYU set out to interview doctors, caregivers, patients, adult day center staff and others about the information they needed to make good healthcare decisions. They used that feedback to createCareMobi: a free mobile health application for iPhone and Android devices that helps patients, caregivers and physicians coordinate care and organize key health information all in one place.
Funded by the National Institutes of Health, CareMobi securely holds data such as doctors’ contacts, appointments, test results and medications. Patients and caregivers can create a care team and exchange updates with family members, paid caregivers, and providers who are involved in the day to day care.
The application also helps document and relay all-important observations from home, such as eating and sleeping habits, weight and blood pressure, and even moods and social behaviors. Together, these details illustrate the patient’s full “story,” which–when shared with the physician– can help humanize care, overcome potential bias, and establish an achievable goal for the patient’s recovery.
CareMobi even helps users record conversations with medical staff and transcribe them for future reference.
Sixty percent of Americans are managing at least one chronic condition, and another 53 million are caring for people who are seriously ill. Dr. Sadarangani hopes that more universal access to technology will help them navigate the challenges of our modern healthcare system. But even without an iPhone, she says a few time-tested tips can make a difference in a patient’s care:
- Never leave a doctor’s appointment without asking, “When would you like to see me next? And how do I get in touch with you if I have questions between now and then? And what is the time frame within which I should expect a response?”
- Patients should always bring someone else to the appointment, since research shows that they remember less than half of what their doctors say afterwards.
- Remember to ask the doctor, if the patient were a member of your family, would you recommend the same treatment? “You want to make sure that you know what they’re prescribing you and what they’re recommending is what they would do for someone they loved,” she said.
The Larchmont-Mamaroneck Local Summit is an informal community council that seeks to make a better life for the community by keeping it informed of major issues of concern. Deputy County Executive Ken Jenkins will be the Local Summit’s guest speaker on December 10. For more information: https://www.localsummitlm.org/ To view recorded programs on LMC Media: https://lmcmedia.org/.
