Thomas A. Young M.D. FACP, a specialist in Internal Medicine, has over 30 years of experience caring for adult patients in the office setting, in hospitals, Rehabilitation facilities, Assisted Living and Skilled Nursing facilities
- He has seen how confusing and complicated it can be for elderly patients to take their medications properly, even with the help of family members. Well-meaning caregivers and family members can easily make mistakes, resulting in harm to the patient
- Many of these mistakes are due to a lack of understanding about the proper administration of medications; therefore specific and personalized instruction should be given to all patients and caregivers, who should be given ample time to ask questions
Click the play button above to hear a clip from a typical education session
Medication Knowledge For Safety
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- Patients are often discharged from the hospital with instruction sheets that are complex and confusing. Discharge instructions are typically given by the nursing staff, who can be overworked and in a hurry, and who have limited understanding of pharmacology (the study of medication action)
- Patients are typically told to follow up with their primary care provider who might not have the time or inclination to go over the medication list in sufficient detail. The average visit to a primary care provider in the U.S. only lasts 15 minutes. This is not enough time to review the patient's medication list; consequently the medication list is entered into the medical record by a medical office assistant
Dr. Young is offering one hour online educational sessions, via telephone or video-conferencing (if available), that are geared specifically to elderly individuals and their caregivers. He will provide specific and detailed information about the medications that the individual is taking. For each medication on the client's medications list, he will be prepared to discuss the general indications for use, how each medication works, whether timing with regard to meals is important, and common side effects. He will also review the client’s list of medication allergies and adverse reactions and include this information in the finalized list in order to help the client share this information with his or her health care providers.
The cost of a 45 to 60 minute session including the personalized medication list and medication safety information sheets is $65.00
A nonrefundable deposit of $20.00 will be charged at the time of appointment scheduling to guarantee the appointment slot. The charge for the remainder of payment will be paid at the end of the session. Since the traditional physician-patient relationship is not established, claims for Dr. Young's services cannot and will not be submitted to insurers
Dr. Young will be providing medication education and information only. The traditional physician-patient relationship will not be established. He will not take a medical history or examine the client. He will not answer questions about a client's symptoms, previous diagnoses or medical treatments. He will not comment on appropriateness of any current medications or advise the client to stop or change any medications. If Dr. Young finds out that the client is taking duplicate therapy (e.g. 2 different statin drugs), or anything in his estimation that could adversely affect the client’s health, he will advise the client or caregiver to contact the client’s personal physician for clarification of the suspect medications.