This Founder is Fixing the Communication Gap Between Caregivers and DoctorsA simple quiz could save your life.
This story appears in theJune 2016issue of狗万官方.Subscribe »
Home-care workers know a lotabout their patients, but they don't always know what's worth telling doctors. San Francisco-based Care at Hand bridges that gap: It produces surveys for caregivers to complete (via the company's app and platform) that can identify if a senior is at risk of serious medical issues. "Our library has 2,700 questions and 55 algorithms to determine which 15 should be deployed for a particular person," says founder Dr. Andrey Ostrovsky. He explains the importance of some questions.
Q: Did Mrs. Jones sleep on more pillows last night than most other nights?
Purpose: "One symptom of heart failure is called pillow orthopnea. When the left side of the heart is petering out, it's not pumping well. The blood backs up, and the only place it can go is the lungs. If you lie down, it literally feels like you're drowning. To avoid that feeling, patients prop themselves up on a bunch of pillows."