Cassi Zimmerman, nurse practitioner at UnityPoint Clinic Family Medicine - Tower Terrace, returns to the podcast to discuss how seeing your primary care provider on a routine basis and keeping up with preventive screenings can help you maintain your health.
To schedule an appointment with Cassi or any other UnityPoint Clinic provider, visit unitypoint.org and click on "Find a Doctor" to find a doctor near you.
Do you have a question about a trending medical topic? Ask Dr. Arnold! Submit your question and it may be answered by Dr. Arnold on the podcast!
Submit your questions at: https://www.unitypoint.org/cedarrapids/submit-a-question-for-the-mailbag.aspx
If you have a topic you'd like Dr. Arnold to discuss with a guest on the podcast, shoot us an email at stlukescr@unitypoint.org.
Cassi Zimmerman, nurse practitioner at UnityPoint Clinic Family Medicine - Tower Terrace, returns to the podcast to discuss how seeing your primary care provider on a routine basis and keeping up with preventive screenings can help you maintain your health.
To schedule an appointment with Cassi or any other UnityPoint Clinic provider, visit unitypoint.org and click on "Find a Doctor" to find a doctor near you.
Do you have a question about a trending medical topic? Ask Dr. Arnold! Submit your question and it may be answered by Dr. Arnold on the podcast!
Submit your questions at: https://www.unitypoint.org/cedarrapids/submit-a-question-for-the-mailbag.aspx
If you have a topic you'd like Dr. Arnold to discuss with a guest on the podcast, shoot us an email at stlukescr@unitypoint.org.
Dr. Dustin Arnold:
This is LiveWell Talk On Health Maintenance. I'm Dr. Dustin Arnold, chief medical officer at UnityPoint Health - St. Luke's Hospital. Seeing your UnityPoint primary care clinician for routine health maintenance is important. As my dad used to say, you want to dig the well before you're thirsty, so you don't want to wait until you're ill to go see the clinician. Returning to the podcast today is Cassi Zimmerman, a nurse practitioner at UnityPoint Clinic Family Medicine - Tower Terrace. Cassi, welcome back. We had you on for a new provider and that was an interesting podcast, and so I'm sure your daughters are keeping you busy and your clamping season is getting started.
Dr. Dustin Arnold:
I think, not to get into details, but had quite a few surgical procedures last fall colonoscopy, you know, got to that age, et cetera. It's kind of a pain in the neck to be a patient, I mean, you know, to go get lab work done, go get x-rays done. So you know, I want to talk today about health maintenance. I think those checkups are good. I'm not the best patient, which that's not unusual for physicians, but, as you know, I mean you're around them. But I think it's important, particularly on the hospital medicine side, when I see patients show up with untreated diabetes or, you know, very poorly treated high blood pressure, you know not having their blood pressure checked and they have a stroke, you know. And so that's always sad because you think to yourself this potentially was a preventable event. So tell us about what is health maintenance? How would you describe it?
Cassi Zimmerman, DNP:
Yeah, health maintenance is - it's really important. Like you said, it's coming in for checkups not just - A lot of people go through a period, I think, in their life where they feel healthy, so they don't feel like they need to come in and be seen, whereas that's probably the farthest thing from the truth. Truly, people need to be coming in every year so that we can make sure that we're practicing preventive medicine with people and making sure that preventable diseases like you mentioned, like heart disease, diabetes, things like that we're able to teach people about them but also be screening for them and making sure that everything is truly staying healthy. Even if you feel healthy, there could be things off.
Dr. Dustin Arnold:
Sure, and you know, I think I was read once that the average type 2 diabetic, adult onset, has it for about three years before they're diagnosed, that they before they even know that they have diabetes in that kind of pre-diabetic state. That's increasing in patients having that, isn't it? You've seen a lot of that in clinic.
Cassi Zimmerman, DNP:
I'm personally seeing it, and I think my colleagues are as well. I find that I'm seeing it a lot younger now. It used to be, you know, when people are in their later 40s, 50s. I have a lot of 30 year old's now that are coming in and I know that in the pediatric world we're seeing it more and more kind of creep to younger ages.
Dr. Dustin Arnold:
Certainly, the earlier you can get it under control, the better, absolutely, so I think that's a good situation, but also tell us a little bit about you know, I think everybody's afraid of cancer, right. And so the best way to prevent cancer is to have a screening exam that finds it either prior to turning into cancer, i. e. a colonoscopy, or early mammograms.
Dr. Dustin Arnold:
How do you approach that with having patients screen for whatever they're supposed to receive?
Cassi Zimmerman, DNP:
Yeah, so when people come in for their like annual physicals, what we kind of go over one of the most important things with cancer especially is family history. And so looking at somebody's history, seeing if they're going to be predisposed potentially to certain cancers. it can't predict everything, but it can really help us, especially early on. There's an age for everything, so colonoscopy, you know, is going to be recommended at 45 years of age and older.
Dr. Dustin Arnold:
Which we've done a podcast about that new recommendation and I'm sure you've listened to that podcast several times.
Cassi Zimmerman, DNP:
And then mammograms, you know start at 40 for women generally, but even so, by coming into your annual physical, some people are going to qualify to have that earlier because they have a strong family history, and so there are certain things that people may not know about that. By coming in to see us, we're going to be able to keep track for them and be able to help guide them as they kind of try and avoid a late diagnosis of something.
Dr. Dustin Arnold:
How does someone get an appointment with you up at the Tower Terrace Clinic?
Cassi Zimmerman, DNP:
Pretty easily. Just give our office a call and set up the appointment.
Dr. Dustin Arnold:
And then do you do online scheduling after that through MyChart?
Cassi Zimmerman, DNP:
Yes, yeah, you can schedule through MyChart for certain visit types. I can do virtual visits as well, which can be really beneficial, Not so much physicals but other visits.
Dr. Dustin Arnold:
So what, what is the biggest challenge or what am I trying to ask here?
Dr. Dustin Arnold:
How do you motivate people to participate in this health wellness, this kind of motivational interviewing to do that. I'm sure there's patients come and say, hey, I'm 50 I want my colonoscopy, right you know, or 45. Sorry. But I'm sure there's others that are reluctant, whether it's the time off work, you know the prep, we've heard every excuse as clinicians with what people want to delay. But how do you, how do you motivate people participate?
Cassi Zimmerman, DNP:
I think, for motivating patients, I think it's important to listen, to hear what they say and then to educate, and tell them everything they need to really know and then give them the choice, put that power back in their ball court as to whether or not they're gonna make the the decision to go through with something. So, for example, with mammograms I have had patients that come in and they don't want to do screenings. They don't want to do a screening mammogram for breast cancer, anything like that. But kind of empowering them to know why breast cancer screening is really important and, if something were to be going on, what that could look like down the road if they don't have it screened for. It can really empower some people and there will still be some people that don't want to do the screenings and that's okay, and they need to know that that's okay. But I'm also gonna bug them about it every single time they come in my office and educate them further.
Dr. Dustin Arnold:
Be persistent with that. Midwesterners have and I was just talking to a neurosurgeon from the East Coast about this and he's been working here on locum assignments and he noticed, as we start talking how mid-westerners really care, or really are worried about being a burden on their family, right? So, like you know, when he was talking to these patients, they, you know when he would mention well, you could die if you don't have this procedure, they're like whatever you know, but if it came down to I might be a burden on my family, they're like well, i want to do, i don't want that to happen, right?
Cassi Zimmerman, DNP:
Right.
Dr. Dustin Arnold:
You know, you're from the Midwest, you grew up locally so you understand that and I think it's it's something that's really admirable on one end. So sometimes I've approached patients like, look, we want to get this done, i don't want you have half a stroke right, and so let's get the blood pressure under control. And I found that's a successful with patients that are might maybe a little reluctant.
Cassi Zimmerman, DNP:
Yeah, I think it's, there's a fine line between scare tactics, you know, and education. I think once you know, I don't think that that's a scare tactic, so much, but I think it's a gentle way of saying this is probably worst-case scenario for you and so you know, some people may be offended by it, but I think it's really important that they know what worse scenario could be.
Dr. Dustin Arnold:
I've often said I think you have to be, to be a good clinician, you have to know when to be fraternal and when to be paternal. Because there are patients that want to make the decision with you as a brother, fraternal, and there are others, just you know, just tell me when I need to have this done. I don't want to talk about it, just schedule it, you know.
Dr. Dustin Arnold:
Or that you know the classic is the man, that's the husband that says just tell my wife what you're doing. I trust you, doc, but you don't, like you said you don't want to get into scare tactics, because that's, that's not a healthy relationship to have with a patient, but you want to set them up for success too, right?
Cassi Zimmerman, DNP:
And let them know that you care, and that's why you're telling them.
Dr. Dustin Arnold:
Yeah. Well, what, what has been, I know I'm kind of picking your brain here, just for my own knowledge. What's some of your secrets, or how do you approach getting patients to quit smoking, which I think is a huge preventive measure that a patient can take?
Cassi Zimmerman, DNP:
Yeah, I think that there are several options available to people right now to help with smoking cessation, and so I just kind of lay them all out on the table for people. There are medication options that can be a good option for some. There are other options so like nicotine patches, lozenges, things like that that may be helpful for some people. We do have our pulmonology department has a smoking cessation clinic that can help with smoking cessation. It's really 80% mental, 20% nicotine dependence. You're not going to die from not having nicotine, but it's not going to be great, right? So to get over that hump is a little hump. To get over the mental hump is going to be a huge portion of the cravings and things like that. That's what's really hard for people. So to be able to kind of be with them through that and know that they have somebody that if they need something like a medication such as Chantix, that would be helpful and that's something that I can help with them getting.
Dr. Dustin Arnold:
Well, that right there. I mean, it sounds like you're quite knowledgeable about that and that's a reason for listeners to come in and see you, Cassi, out at the Tower Terrace Medical Clinic. Cassie, thank you for joining me and informing listeners about the importance of health maintenance visits. Once again, this was Cassi Zimmerman, nurse practitioner at Unity Point Clinic Family Medicine - Tower Terrace. If you'd like to schedule a health maintenance visit with Cassie or any other Unity Point Clinic provider, visit unitypoint. org and click on Find a Doctor to find a provider accepting new patients near you. Thank you for listening to LiveW ell Talk On. If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe, and if you want to spread the word, please give us a five star review and tell your family, friends, neighbors, strangers about our podcast. We're available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora or wherever you get your podcasts. Until next time, be well.