Want more time to ask questions of your doctor and an opportunity to meet other patients who share your medical concerns? Then a shared medical appointments (SMA) might be for you.
During SMAs, patients have much more time to discuss their issues with their physicians than they would during a typical 20-minute office visit,” explains Bruce Eisendorf, M.D., a family medicine doctor at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation (PAMF), who offers SMAs on managing pain and reducing your risk for heart attack or stroke at the PAMF clinic in Santa Cruz, California. “Patients also learn an incredible amount from listening to each other’s questions and are empowered by the positive feedback from other group members.”
Just as in a regular office visit, patients in a SMA can change or renew prescriptions, receive test results, learn to use prescribed medical equipment, and discuss medications, treatment and surgery options. The difference is that discussions take place in a group instead of one-on-one with the doctor, which makes for a more relaxed atmosphere.
“There is a less intimidating environment than in the physician’s office,” says Steven Bartis, DPM, a podiatrist who offers SMAs on plantar fasciitis (heel pain) at PAMF’s Fremont Center. “Patients feel more at ease when they realize they are not alone in their diagnosis.”
In addition, some SMAs allow patients to see two or more doctors at one time instead of having to come in for multiple separate office visits on different days. Dr. Bartis, for example, has teamed with ophthalmologist Timothy Scott, M.D., and Fremont Center nutritionists to offer a single three-hour SMA for patients newly diagnosed with diabetes.
“Combining foot and eye exams with nutritional education is a concept that not only enhances patient understanding of diabetes, it also limits the time the patient loses in scheduling and visits, taking less time away from work, family or fun,” Dr. Scott says.
PAMF currently offers SMAs for many health needs. Learn more about SMAs at PAMF Fremont, Los Altos and Palo Alto centers or call 650-853-2283. For SMAs at PAMF Santa Cruz area clinic locations, call 831-459-6418. View a listing of Shared Medical Appointment (SMA) Groups at PAMF.
PDF 
