The Importance of Collaboration in MS Care: Takeaways from CMSC

Announcer:
Welcome to NeuroFrontiers on ReachMD. On this episode, we’re joined by Patty Bobryk, a physical therapist at Yampa Valley Medical Center, a part of University of Colorado Health in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Ms. Bobryk is here to share the importance of a multidisciplinary team for MS patients from the rehabilitation track at the 2021 Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers. Here’s Ms. Bobryk now.

Patty:
All lectures were wonderful, but a couple of them that really highlighted the collaborative team was we had a lecture on management of MS fatigue, the physical, behavior, medical and combined approaches, and it was moderated by Nora Fritz, and we had a physician and a psychologist, and they really went through each area of their expertise and how they approach fatigue management. But then the panel came together to show how we collaborate and how much we overlap and how much we can reinforce each other's objectives and goals and to get the best outcomes, so that was really a wonderful demonstration of the comprehensive team and how we can all work together.  This is from the University of Michigan, and they have a wonderful team up there dealing with fatigue management.

Another lecture that was presented was really a little bit unique, and the topic was “To Work or Not to Work: So Many Questions.”  And it was Erin Giroux, who is an occupational therapist from Canada, Matt Sutliff, who is a PT, and also a lawyer, and they went through the different systems, Canadian and US, about what the restrictions and requirements are for the different levels of disability benefits in each country and then the application process and really down to the nitty-gritty of what as rehab professionals we need to do to assess patients who are maybe considering returning to work or leaving the workforce or who maybe need job accommodations. And then the highlight was really the lawyer who came on who really kind of just spoke very clearly and plainly about the application process, which was really very educational. So again, kind of a different team approach, but how we can work with professionals within the medical team and outside of the medical team that all are contributing to quality of life and symptoms and the concerns of our patients who are living with MS. 

Announcer:
That was Ms. Patty Bobryk sharing rehabilitation highlights from the 2021 CMSC conference. To access this and other episodes in our series, visit ReachMD.com/NeuroFrontiers, where you can Be Part of the Knowledge. Thanks for listening.