Overview

Healthcare is no longer a one-on-one transaction between a physician and a patient. Providing the highest quality care requires a team of professionals — doctors, nurses, pharmacists, physical therapists, etc. — working together for their patients’ best possible outcome.

The latest in the URI Academic Health Collaborative’s series of continuing education webinars focuses on healthcare teams and how the trend toward a more team-based approach leads to more effective, efficient care.

Learning Objectives

At the completion of the presentation, participants will be able to:

• Describe a health care model in which the nurse, physician or pharmacist team co-manages primary care office visits, including acute medical problems, health screenings, immunizations, medication refills and chronic disease monitoring.
• Describe a health care model in which the primary care team co-manages between-visit care.
• Explain how team meetings are structured to support the health care team.

Speakers

Thomas Sinsky, M.D.

The session is presented by Dr. Thomas Sinsky, who, with his wife, Dr. Christine Sinsky, has shadowed doctors, nurses and medical staff members at more than 50 primary care practices around the country to learn the challenges they face in providing outstanding care for patients, while still achieving a beneficial work-life balance. The couple has developed a formula for healthcare professionals to work smarter — not harder — utilizing a team-based approach to healthcare management.

Dr. Sinsky is a general internist, having practiced at Medical Associates Clinic and Health Plans, in Dubuque, Iowa, from 1987 to 2019. He received his B.S. and M.D. degrees from the University of Wisconsin, and completed his residency at Gundersen Medical Foundation/La Crosse Lutheran Hospital, in LaCrosse, Wisconsin, serving as chief resident.

Dr. Sinsky serves on the joint ABIMF-American Academy of Nursing Primary Care Initiative, and is co-author, with Christine Sinsky, of “In Search of Joy in Practice,” an American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation study of high functioning primary care practices. He has spoken widely across the country on practice redesign and professional satisfaction. He has also worked with ABIMF and the American Academy of Nursing on the role of nurses in primary care.