SeamlessMD Podcast – Episode 21 – Using Digital Patient Engagement For Thoracic Surgery



In this episode of the SeamlessMD Podcast, Dr. Joshua Liu, Co-founder & CEO at SeamlessMD, and marketing colleague, Alan Sardana, chat with Daniela Faykoo-Martinez, RD, MHSc, Patient Education Specialist at SeamlessMD about using digital patient engagement for Thoracic surgery. See the full show notes below for details.

Guest(s): Ms. Daniela Faykoo-Martinez, RD, MHSc, Patient Education Specialist at SeamlessMD

Dr. Joshua Liu (@joshuapliu), Co-founder & CEO at SeamlessMD

Episode 21 – Show notes:

[0:07] Introducing Ms. Daniela Faykoo-Martinez, RD, MHSc, Sr. Patient Education Specialist at SeamlessMD;

[01:28] Why one of the first use cases for Digital Patient Engagement was thoracic surgery because thoracic surgeons are notoriously innovative;

[04:17] How the thoracic surgery digital program has evolved to encompass the entire peri-operative patient journey including sophisticated algorithms and trackers for various patient statistics (eg patient walk distance, narcotic use);

[05:38] How Dr. Carmine Simone, thoracic surgeon and chief of the department of surgery at Michael Garron Hospital, personalized the first SeamlessMD thoracic program to include recorded videos for his patients;

[09:04] How Digital Patient Engagement circumvents patient information overwhelm by personalizing the experience for each patient (eg Bilateral VATS education only sent to patients with the procedure);

[11:30] How SeamlessMD is able to anticipate patients’ needs via intelligent “branching logic” questions to personalize the patient education and feedback;

[14:29] Why esophagectomy patients have unique challenges such as feeding tubes and how SeamlessMD addresses these unique topics;

[15:48] How SeamlessMD identifies potential patient problems such as pain and breathing via daily “health check” surveys;

[18:02] How SeamlessMD’s thoracic program utilizes “branching logic” so patients are provided personalized information (eg. Female patients are instructed to wear a sports bra since regular bra underwires can cause pain to the incision area);

[20:40] How implementing Digital Patient Engagement can help facilitate communication between hospital physicians and standardize protocols;

[23:39] How SeamlessMD collects unique patient-reported outcomes for Thoracic Enhanced Recovery  After Surgery (ERAS) such as patient compliance with exercises, opioid use, and patient pain;

[24:46] How patients are able to visualize their recovery progress, which provides positive reinforcement especially seeing decreasing pain levels;

[25:28] Why Thoracic patients love Digital Patient Engagement because it keeps them on track and provides the rationale behind why various procedures are necessary (eg breathing exercises);

[28:21] Lightning Round / Fast 5 Questions:

Q1: Aside from basic necessities, what do you need to do every day to be happy?

A1: I need heat because I’m always cold and connectedness (family and friends)!

Q2: If you could travel to any location and time in history, what would it be and why? 

A2: Same time and place as “Jack the Ripper” because it seems so interesting and intense.

Q3: What is one of your fondest memories from childhood?

A3: Strawberry picking with my family!

Q4: What, if anything, is too serious to joke about?

A4: People with disabilities.

Q5: If you weren’t in healthcare, what would you be doing? 

A5: A professional organizer!

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