Before she finally had successful treatment for her Clostridioides difficile infection in New Haven, Connecticut, Freda Pyles’ family physician in rural Pennsylvania was terrified and frustrated that he could not cure her and other patients.
Freda Pyles’ family physician in rural Pennsylvania was terrified and frustrated that he could not make her and other patients recover from their Clostridioides difficile infections. Pyles was later treated successfully in New Haven, Connecticut, through a fecal transplant.
Transcript
As a patient who had Clostridioides difficile, how did only having access to rural health care affect how you dealt with things—was that an issue?
It was, but my family physician here—he had never seen anybody as bad as me. But he had 3 patients in the nursing home, they had C diff at the same time. And he was just so frustrated with what he could do for them. And he's just over the moon happy about my success with it. He can't tell enough people about it…he saw me suffer. One day, I went in there for, I don't even remember which complaint it was. But he just came over and he hugged me, because I think he thought I was dying too. I think he watched me deteriorate so much that he was really nervous, because he knows my husband and he knows me—he's known us for many years. So he was really struggling with it too. But he was really good. I just can't say enough about how careful he was—he kept reminding me that I needed to be careful because it's contagious.
What We’re Reading: Abortion Privacy Rules; Alzheimer Drug Hurdles; Nursing Home Staffing Overhaul
April 23rd 2024New health privacy rules aim to protect patients and providers in an evolving abortion landscape; some physicians express concerns about efficacy, risks, and entrenched beliefs in treating Alzheimer disease; CMS addresses longstanding staffing deficits in nursing homes.
Read More
Navigating Health Literacy, Social Determinants, and Discrimination in National Health Plans
February 13th 2024On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we're talking with the authors of a study published in the February 2024 issue of The American Journal of Managed Care® about their findings on how health plans can screen for health literacy, social determinants of health, and perceived health care discrimination.
Listen
Drs Raymond Thertulien, Joseph Mikhael on Racial Disparities in Multiple Myeloma Care Access
December 28th 2023In the wake of the 2023 American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting and Exposition, Raymond Thertulien, MD, PhD, of Novant Health, and Joseph Mikhael, MD, MEd, FRCPC, FACP, chief medical officer of the International Myeloma Foundation, discussed health equity research highlights from the meeting and drivers of racial disparities in multiple myeloma outcomes.
Listen