From next Monday, patients with chronic diseases attending the Monseñor Sanabria Hospital in Puntarenas will have a different form of care that engages them in controling their condition.
Randall Álvarez, director of the medical center, said the aim is that these patients are cared for under the model of “clinic” where, in addition to the medical care they receive, they start a socio-educational process that allows them to better control their disease, which will be led by an interdisciplinary team of professionals.
They also seek that patients raise their adherence to treatment, have better lifestyles, become or continue to be physically active, avoid smoking, reduce complications from these diseases and avoid decompensation that forces them to visit the emergency room periodically.
This consultation will be offered in the outpatient clinic, but the idea is to place it in a special area of the hospital. The decision to create this arose under the large amount of diabetes, hypertension and lipid disorders’ patients who go to the hospital decompensated.
Álvarez said they always receive lots of patients with cardiovascular complications and serious kidney problems as consequences of these poorly controlled chronic diseases.
The idea is to assist one thousand to two thousand patients a year with this new consultation, in which social workers, physical therapists, nutritionists, psychologists, nurses, internists and family medicine professionals will be involved to ensure that the patient may have comprehensive care.
This medical center serves about 285 thousand people from Nicoya’s Peninsula, Quepos, Parrita, Garabito, Orotina, Esparza, Montes de Oro, Monteverde, Barranca, Chacarirta, Puntarenas and the islands of Chira, Caballo and Venado.