{"id":108,"date":"2023-04-18T01:30:49","date_gmt":"2023-04-18T01:30:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hilizzy.com\/guide\/?post_type=courses&p=108"},"modified":"2025-02-12T22:58:20","modified_gmt":"2025-02-12T22:58:20","slug":"working-with-the-health-care-team","status":"publish","type":"courses","link":"https:\/\/lizzycare.com\/resources\/course\/working-with-the-health-care-team\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Work With The Health Care Team"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Lizzy Care is reimagining dementia care and providing the resources for today\u2019s needs and tomorrow\u2019s challenges.<\/em><\/em><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Get Started<\/strong><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Discovering more information about your loved one\u2019s diagnosis and how it can be managed will help you to play a more active role in their care. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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Dementia is a scary condition to understand and manage and it\u2019s completely normal to feel overwhelmed when discussing your loved one\u2019s care with medical professionals and people on their health care team. However, it is important to seek clarity on exactly what dementia your loved one has and how you can best manage it by all working together.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To help you prepare for any discussions with your health care providers we\u2019ve outlined some useful questions that you can work on getting answered. Sharing information with all the members of the care circle will help keep everyone on the same page about your loved one\u2019s current care. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Getting your questions answered<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Your loved one\u2019s health care team should take the time to explain the diagnosis, how it will progress, how it can be managed as well as making time to answer any of your questions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Communicating with doctors, nurses and other medical professionals can feel daunting and it\u2019s easy to get lost and confused especially when you are worried about a loved one. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s some guidance about how to stay on top of managing your loved one\u2019s care when working with members of their health care team. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Write things down<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Before the visit write down any questions that you have and spend time discussing the visit with your loved one to find out if there are things they would like to cover. Having a prepared list of questions will make sure that you cover everything you need to during an appointment or visit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take a notebook with you to the appointment so that you can write down the answers. This will help you to remember all the important things that came up during the conversation. You can also ask if you can record the appointment so that you can listen to it again later and make a note of anything you missed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the next section we outline a list of questions that you can put to the health care team.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ask for clarity <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t be afraid to ask for explanations of any medical terminology or acronyms that are being used. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019ve read something in your research that you\u2019re not sure about (including on the Lizzy app) you can ask the medical team to help explain or clarify it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ask for help<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Whilst we like to think Lizzy has a lot of good information on managing the care of someone with dementia there is lots of other good advice out there. Ask the medical team to provide advice on additional resources you can look at. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remember there is currently no cure for dementia. However, there are medicines as well as other treatments that can help to manage some of the symptoms of dementia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep everyone updated <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Part of the challenge when managing the care of someone with dementia is keeping everyone updated on what\u2019s going on. Particularly as there might be a number of different professionals involved in supporting your loved one as well as lots of interested family members and friends. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We designed Lizzy to help make the process of keeping everyone up-to-date quick and easy. By adding people to the care circle you can use the care feed as a way to quickly record updates and keep everyone on the same page about changes in behavior, new symptoms, medication updates and appointment summaries. You can use the tags as a way to identify the different types of information so you can quickly find them again later. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Questions to ask the health care team<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Below we\u2019ve identified some key questions that should be on your list for discussion with your loved one\u2019s health care team. Using these questions can help give you a better sense of what to expect when caring for your loved one and how you can help them manage their dementia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or you can download our handy doctor’s visit summary sheet to print out and record all the important information on.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When making an appointment<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Booking appointments isn\u2019t always straightforward and there are some important questions you can ask upfront that will help make sure you get to the appointment safely and on time, as well as know what to expect and anything you will need to bring with you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n