Informed Magazine - Winter 2009.pdf - Parma Community General ...

Primary care physicians focus on preventive
To primary care physicians, the gatekeepers
in medicine, there is no
minor case, says Christopher Loyke, DO,
Parma Hospital’s Medical Staff president.
Primary care physicians (PCPs), both
in family practice and internal medicine,
are the ones who focus most on prevention
and general health maintenance.
They are the ones who order mammograms
or colonoscopies to prevent diseases
or detect a chronic condition over
time that develops from one office visit
to the next. They manage the multiple
medications prescribed by specialists
to avoid contraindications. And they
will encourage immunizations against
common conditions like influenza and
pneumonia.
“We can direct the care for nearly
any inpatient or outpatient illness or
condition,” said Timothy Gallagher,
MD. “The continuity of care we provide
is a huge benefit to the patient.
We do our best to eliminate the need
for patients to be seen in the Emergency
Room, where they may do more
tests than we would do in the office to
diagnose the same problem because of
unfamiliarity with the patient.”
PCPs also coordinate care between
specialists, making recommendations
regarding other physicians who work
together as a team to treat each patient.
The PCP knows the patient from office
A statewide leader
Christopher Loyke, DO, a family practice physician
and president of Parma Hospital’s Medical Staff,
also leads the organization
for all of Ohio’s osteopathic
physicians.
Loyke is president of the
Ohio Osteopathic Association,
which represents
Ohio’s 3,500 osteopathic
physicians and the Ohio
Christopher Loyke, DO University College of Osteopathic
Medicine in Athens, Ohio – of which Dr.
Loyke is an alumnus. Osteopathic physicians make
up 11 percent of all licensed physicians in Ohio and
24 percent of the family physicians in the state.
Dr. Loyke has been a member of Parma Hospital’s
Medical Staff since 1992 and has served as chairman
of the Department of Family Practice. He
served two terms as president of the Cleveland
Academy of Osteopathic Medicine.
visits and gets to
know the patient’s
family as well.
“The PCP
should be the
first physician
any patient sees,”
Mirela Rossi, MD
said.
Maintaining
good health
Family practice
physicians are
the accountants
of the medical
profession, caring
for patients from
infancy through
old age.
They are the
trusted experts
who watch over
their patients’
health, keeping a
close eye on preventative care. It may
not be exciting, but it’s the bread-andbutter
in the business of medicine.
“In family practice, you do most of
your good with routine maintenance,”
Dr. Loyke said. “Family practice is the
accounting aspect of medicine.”
Chronic diseases like diabetes
or hypertension may begin without
noticeable symptoms, said Jason
Sustersic, DO, adding that most
diabetics have diabetes for 10 years
before diagnosed. Yet blood sugar,
blood pressure and even thyroid
conditions require just simple tests for
monitoring.
“That has always been the goal of
primary care, to catch things before
they start,” said Dr. Sustersic. “We have
many silent diseases that are really dangerous
and patients won’t know they
have them unless we check for them.
People can feel wonderful and then find
out that they have a multitude of problems.
Ten or 20 years down the line, it’s
harder to fix them.”
Taking time to follow through
Having a watchful PCP can pay off
in dividends for years to come. Said Dr.
Loyke: ”There is no minor case.”
Some patients need reminders to
have screenings done, like the woman
Michael Debs, MD, is among the primary care physicians who visits his own
patients when they are admitted to Parma Hospital. In some cases, physicians
hand off inpatient care to the hospitalists, who specialize in inpatient cases.
who thought she’d had a mammogram
in the past two years but was mistaken.
Dr. Loyke gently pressed the issue, and
checked his patient’s record to be sure.
The overdue mammogram revealed
breast cancer.
Michael Saridakis, DO recalled a
woman recovering from a broken foot
who came into the office. Checking her
chart, he noted that she was due for a
colonoscopy and a physical, though neither
was her purpose for the office visit.
The colonoscopy found cancer that was
treatable.
“What separates the good doctor
from the great one is those who stick
with the routine in a respectful, kind
way,” Dr. Loyke said. “These things take
time.”
The attentive PCP may also notice
when something is amiss with a family
member. Dr. Saridakis, who noted that
his practice has seen three or four generations
of some families, remembers
a mother and daughter who came in to
the office together. He noticed that the
mother didn’t seem herself and questioned
the daughter, who hadn’t yet
realized the subtle change.
The doctor had actually picked up
on a case of rapid onset Alzheimer’s
disease.
“When you take care of the whole
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