CASPER
New member
Wait a minute, Doc. You want me to share my appointment with 10 other patients?
Group appointments aren't just for psychotherapy anymore. Put diabetes, high blood pressure and maybe even Parkinson's disease on the list.
Shared checkups aim to help patients who are battling certain chronic diseases, and they're far from the typical 15-minute office visit. They're stretched over 90 minutes or even two hours, offering more time to quiz the doctor about concerns, learn about managing the disease — and get tips from fellow patients.
What's in it for the doctor? A neurologist found he learned more about how his Parkinson's patients were faring by watching them interact with others than when he had them one-on-one.
"I can see if you're getting worse over the course of the visit, your ability to eat, to walk, to converse and to think," says Dr. Ray Dorsey, who led a pilot study of group checkups for Parkinson's patients at the University of Rochester Medical Center.
"This is a new way of delivering health care," adds Dorsey, now at Johns Hopkins University. "People are thirsting for better ways."
It's a small but slowly growing trend that promises to get more attention with the tight supply of primary care physicians, who find it hard to squeeze in time to teach their patients how to deal with complex chronic illnesses like diabetes. An American Academy of Family Physicians survey found more doctors trying the group approach — about 10 percent of its active members in 2009, up from fewer than 6 percent in 2005.
Group appointments aren't just for psychotherapy anymore. Put diabetes, high blood pressure and maybe even Parkinson's disease on the list.
Shared checkups aim to help patients who are battling certain chronic diseases, and they're far from the typical 15-minute office visit. They're stretched over 90 minutes or even two hours, offering more time to quiz the doctor about concerns, learn about managing the disease — and get tips from fellow patients.
What's in it for the doctor? A neurologist found he learned more about how his Parkinson's patients were faring by watching them interact with others than when he had them one-on-one.
"I can see if you're getting worse over the course of the visit, your ability to eat, to walk, to converse and to think," says Dr. Ray Dorsey, who led a pilot study of group checkups for Parkinson's patients at the University of Rochester Medical Center.
"This is a new way of delivering health care," adds Dorsey, now at Johns Hopkins University. "People are thirsting for better ways."
It's a small but slowly growing trend that promises to get more attention with the tight supply of primary care physicians, who find it hard to squeeze in time to teach their patients how to deal with complex chronic illnesses like diabetes. An American Academy of Family Physicians survey found more doctors trying the group approach — about 10 percent of its active members in 2009, up from fewer than 6 percent in 2005.