Cardiologists and pulmonologists at Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, have teamed up to establish the Rush Pulmonary Hypertension Clinic. The clinic brings together a multidisciplinary team of clinicians with specialized training to care for patients with pulmonary hypertension.

The clinic provides patients access to a cardiologist and a pulmonologist in the same office, on the same day of a clinic visit. This arrangement enables physicians to work in consultation with each other, providing patients with more comprehensive care that address both the cardiac and pulmonary elements of their illness.

“Because the disease is so complicated, it’s likely patients will have problems that require more than one specialist,” says James Calvin, MD, director of the cardiology section at Rush. “Now, with the clinic, we can put our heads together to come up with a solution.”

The clinic allows doctors to diagnose the cause and severity of the disease and administer treatment more quickly and effectively than they otherwise could.

“The patient can see the exact right person at the exact right time. And that’s important because patients’ time is very precious,” says Rajive Tandon, MD, a pulmonologist at Rush.

“The idea of the clinic is more than just medical,” says Calvin. “It’s about managing the disease in the long term.”

Source: Rush University Medical Center