Urgent Care Unscripted: Episode 3 - When Treatment Doesn’t Work – Provider Communication

When the treatment doesn’t seem to be working, don’t panic—communicate. In this episode of *Urgent Care Unscripted*, we talk about how to follow up with your provider and what steps to take to get back on track.

🩺 Topics Covered: When Treatment Doesn’t Work: Provider Communication, AFC Urgent Care, West Haven healthcare, walk-in clinic, urgent care tips, patient education, healthcare podcast.

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome back to Urgent Care Unscripted.

(00:02):
I am Barbara Brant. Alter.
And this is Mohamed Salah.
And we also have, our,medical director, Felix Pacheco,
with us.
today we will be talking about,
we started talking aboutmany different healthcare topics,
but today's focus is onwhen treatments don't work

(00:22):
and how communication playsa big role in the way forward.
And, thank you for joining us.
Yeah.
Thank you, Doctor Felix.
Thank you. Happy to be here.
So, we'll start with,
a couple thingsthat are important to patients.
And I think it's a big topicfor urgent care world

(00:43):
is what happenswhen the treatment doesn't work.
So some things to consider are, you know,
whether or notobviously the diagnosis was correct.
There's someso that may be correct. But the illness,
sometimes suffers a complication.
And a good example is like from media,you know, if you develop new symptoms,
you know, maybe it's not the same illness,but rather the complication

(01:05):
of the previous illness. Yeah.
Another thing to, take into consideration
is that providers often consider a diseaseprocess in terms of a time frame.
It's something that takes longer,you know, not the same.
And depending on your,like risk factors, age and whatnot,
those have to, you know,be taken into consideration as well.

(01:27):
Another thing to consider iswhether or not the treatment was correct.
You know, sometimes, eitherthe treatment was,
incorrect for you, meaningthat it could have been treatment for you
because of antibiotic resistance,for instance.
Or I think,
towards tolerance to the medication,
but sometimes, you know, adherenceor in adherence to the medication regimen,

(01:51):
you know, sothese are all things to consider also.
And, Doctor Felix,when it is still not working,
it's great to know from,many different perspectives of why
it's not working, but what kind of patientdo in that situation.
So for all the reasons mentioned before,a provider needs to know
that this happened may because, a treatment failure or incorrect diagnosis

(02:15):
cannot be something that will determineif we do not know about it.
So, for communication with the providerto ensure
that your symptoms are,you know, resolving or worrying.
So. Got it.
And if it's, if it's a viral infection,does that is that any different way
that the patient should be addressingor approaching it versus a bacterial.

(02:37):
Can you tell us more about, between usversus viral situations?
So most of is, is do not require,any specific treatment.
Obviously there are some exceptions.
You know, Covid is,one that was very prominent recently.
You know, influenza or the flu, might be,
something in which treatment as well,or depending on your risk factors.

(03:00):
Right.
Now, because there's an overlapin presentations,
bacterial illnessesand by organisms may present the same.
And that's the point of seeing a providerto hopefully make the right determination
whether that access actually is neededto make sure there's no pneumonia or,
maybe some other testingthat we have available at the clinic,
for instance, like Covid testingor flu testing that

(03:23):
we can easily evaluate for,and potentially rule out.
And if it's something positive,whether or not treatment is necessary,
that's great.
Can you tell us a little bit aboutsince you mentioned viral infections,
versus let's say bacterial infection,can you tell us why?
A lot of the times providers are reluctantto prescribe antibiotics.

(03:43):
So a couple of reasons.
The most common,which is the lack of a benefit of,
treating a viral illness withan antibiotic that targets the bacteria.
So it would be inappropriate management.
And because of that,
you can have, you know, some peoplewho don't tolerate antibiotics.
Well, another key I distress,maybe some diarrhea,

(04:06):
disrupting the gut microbiome.
Additionally,there's a possibility of adverse effects,
like an allergic reaction. Right.
And then in terms of long termexercise complications,
increased prevalenceof antibiotic status,
meaning that bacteriaevolve to, tolerate these antibiotics.

(04:26):
So you want to preserve themas best as possible, because diets
maybe antibiotics in the,in the pipeline for, you know, future use.
With that being said, at what point?
Because I think a lot of patients come in,
they get diagnosed with a viral infection,and then they come back,
you know, a week later,I'm not still feeling better.

(04:46):
And then they do get prescribedby antibiotic at that point.
Why why is that?
A couple of reasons.
There's always the possibilitythat the initial diagnosis is incorrect.
There's also the possibilitythat you had a, post-viral complication
in which you actually developeda bacterial infection after
an infection could by infection,can sometimes be at risk.

(05:06):
So thanks to, this is such that,it makes me more dead at that point.
But, underlying all this,you know, communication is key.
You know,if you're not, recovering as expected,
then you should have the evaluationand communication with the provider.
A potential GP visit.
To the clinic in order to ensurethat you're actually getting better

(05:26):
or that new treatment is, given,
if needed, here, if the urgent careand what's even we do
next dayfollow up calls, we do understand that
you're not going to get betterwithin that next day,
but it's important for usto let the patients know at that point.
We do have this line of communicationopen with you.
We want to make sure you picked up yourprescriptions or if you had any questions

(05:48):
at the visit that you were not able to askor didn't get an answer on.
We can answer that question.
At that certain point.
I also want to mention, with thatbeing said, is
coming in for a follow up if you're stillfeeling not feeling better.
Sometimes we might ask you to come infor a follow up.
We do have an x ray tech on site,so it might be necessary

(06:09):
for the provider to diagnoseyou and get that chest x ray or whatever.
Or another point of care testingor just repeat testing.
So it's really importantthat we communicate with the patients
and let them know that those are optionsfor them.
Yeah.
Just to keep that for our patients
in mind, that a follow upcall to ask for guidance

(06:30):
to inform your providerwhere you are in your process of recovery,
that really in most casesdoes not cost you anything.
That communication really can takeyou much further along
the whole process of recovery versusyou are thinking sitting at home
and not bothering otherscould, could be a better choice.
No, it may not be the best choicein many situations.

(06:51):
So we advise always to stay in touchwith the plan and keep us informed.
And let us know how you're doing.
The the other thing, the, the,Pacheco that we also see,
is that how does a patient decide, like,should I really at this point,
we will have down the roada full episode on this, deciding between
an urgent care visit and your visit,but they have, some kind of an injury.

(07:16):
It could be
just a cut on their finger,or it could be an accident or
an accident, or it could be something moresevere than that.
And how can they decide, like,do I go with this injury?
Do I look good?
I didn't care, do I was but emergency room
or just sit at homeand try to treat it with a Band-Aid?
The first thing is, you know,very important question trying to decide

(07:38):
between to and you have to considerthe severity of the illness.
Obviously, it's,
in certain cases, and that's probably
not a good place for you to get evaluate,
dealing with a more severe illness.
If there's some confusionand loss of consciousness,
if there's difficulty breathingthese or, more concerning features

(08:01):
that follow any traumatic injury,if it's a, you know,
Kid Kingdom playground and has a floorand is bruised
or, a lacerationthat, you know, isn't too deep,
there is an exposureor an exposure, right?
Those kinds of things,we can easily, like, treat, you know,

(08:23):
you get cleaning I think on today'sepisode, we covered topics.
We covered about, when treatmentsdon't work, how should it be handled?
We covered about, bacterial diseaseversus, viral infections.
We've covered about how follow ups on
and to ear communication is importantin the process of recovery.
We talked about your visit,versus urgent care visit a little bit.

(08:46):
Appreciate everybody joining in.
And, listening toand watching our episode.
We will have more,episodes down the road.
We appreciate you joining and subscribingto, Urgent Care and scripted and,
and enough to warrant doctor, Pachecofor helping us out in this, knowledge.
Yeah. Thank you so much, Doctor Pacheco.
And again,you can find us and Doctor Pacheco here

(09:09):
at 5354 Sawmill Road in West Haven.
Again, a of the urgent care.
And we're here to serve you.And we'll see you next time.