Providing Care During COVID-19 Acumen Clinic Goes Virtual

April 1, 2020

Providing Care During COVID-19 – Acumen Clinic Goes Virtual

It has now been two weeks since my last direct patient contact, and there are definitely some lessons learned in Acumen Clinic’s change to virtual care.  Early on we decided as a team that we should lead clinics in physical distancing by closing our clinic to patient visits.  None of our team wanted to look back and regret continuing our orthopedic surgery or rehabilitation practice.  We all made the commitment to protect our patients from trips to clinics and we continue to work to keep others out of the busy healthcare system while allowing them to continue their healing journey from home.
So far we have developed our virtual care offerings into:
  • Telemedicine orthopedic consultations – one hour booked to discuss possible diagnoses and formulate treatment plans for shoulder, elbow and knee issues
  • TeleRehabilitation Sessions – existing and new patients are starting their healing journey at home under the watchful eye of LeeAnne and Cayla, the Acumen Reconditioning athletic therapy team
  • Telemedicine Follow-up – We are taking the opportunity to follow up with former patients to make sure they are still moving forward on their journey to their health goals.
I have been amazed at the care we can provide to our patients through the phone and online platforms (Skype, Zoom, FaceTime).  Although in-person consultations have some advantages, a virtual consultation can get the ball rolling on simple treatments while public safety demands that we remain in our homes.  I warn every patient that firm diagnoses need to be made with a future in-person evaluation, but our team can also provide safe exercises and stretches to perform at home (we always include an athletic therapy session in all consultations).
There is a lot of uncertainty about future dates of elective rotator cuff repairs, Bankart repairs, ACL reconstructions and meniscal surgeries, and we are providing second opinions to many who had planned on having surgery in the coming months and providing hope and alternatives as that wait lengthens.  Our goal is to keep as many people as we can out of hospitals to allow the system to care for critically ill patients during the pandemic.
Call us for an appointment.  Let us care for you however we can.
Dr. Jesse Slade Shantz

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