COMPASS Clinic

As promised, it is time to talk to you about COMPASS clinic. COMPASS Clinic (or team clinic) is a multi-disciplinary approach to caring for a patient. My placement offers this clinic once a month, every second Friday of the month. COMPASS clinic stands for Colorado Multi-Disciplinary Program for Assessment, Strategies, & Support. K-Mo's and my job is to coordinate the whole day. We arrange the families that are invited to attend the clinic and make sure they are dedicated to showing up for it. There are usually 3 children who attend the COMPASS clinic. We mail them some forms to fill out regarding their history, family history, health, professionals they work with (for example: teachers, family physician, speech pathologist), etc. When they send it back, we contact the other professionals to get any relevant info they have on the child and write up a summary. Then we send the summary out to all professionals the child sees the day of the COMPASS clinic. K-Mo and I schedule the appointments and send the family their schedule for the day, a list of what to bring and some info regarding what to expect the day of. We each stay with one of the families throughout the day and act as their support for the day. We coordinate and assist. The day of, they see some or all of the following: an audiologist, the ENT who is a neurotologist, a developmental pediatrician, a genetics counselor, a psychologist who specializes in Deafness and Autism, and a parent and a patient advocate. We go with them to each appointments and make note of their concerns for their child and their goals for their child's future. Over lunch, we all meet in the conference room to discuss the children seen in the COMPASS clinic and review the findings of the morning appointments. Then, at the end of the day, we all get together again to review the findings of the afternoon appointments. Finally, K-Mo and I write up the recommendations from each professional seen that day and get it to the child's family in the next week. By the time we're done, we get to start preparing for the next one!

So... it's a lot of work, but this clinic is pretty awesome. I learned so much in only a single day, and the families who need it had the opportunity to have their child cared for in a more well-rounded fashion and they get all of their questions answered. The day itself can be overwhelming, but the families leave feeling truly grateful! I still can't believe how much I learned during this clinic. I am thinking about using the little guy I accompanied for my next grand rounds project, so you will probably hear all about him in the near future.