Medical case managers are often called in to provide medical oversight for people who become ill or injured when traveling or living outside the United States. When providing medical case management, the SentinelMED team also considers the mental health of the patient. Studies suggest that stress and anxiety can delay wound healing and also cause pain. When working with a SentinelMED medical case manager, you can be assured your mental health needs will be factored into every recommendation.
What is Medical Case Management?
“Medical case management” is a process in which medical professionals collaborate to oversee patients’ treatment plans and assure they receive appropriate medical care. At SentinelMED, our physicians regularly provide case management for travelers and others who become ill or are seriously injured while far from home.
Our medical case managers review patients' medical records, communicate with patients' treating physicians, and help determine if appropriate care is available nearby. If not, our medical case managers will help determine when and how patients can be transported so that they receive the care they need.
If you are a patient who needs medical case management, our team will focus on your physical needs as well as your mental and emotional health. That includes talking to you and your family to identify any mental and emotional health concerns and communicating them to the treating physicians. Our team has medical professionals proficient in English, French, Spanish, German and other languages. They will communicate with you and your family in your preferred language, which can help reduce the stress, anxiety and confusion that can come with language differences.
We also work with a network of medical translators who can facilitate communication between medical providers, patients and their families.
Depending on your physical and mental health needs, we can provide medical escorts to accompany you from discharge from a treatment facility to arrival at your home or care provider. Our medical escorts are registered nurses, physician assistants, paramedics or EMTs who are trained or experienced in emergency and critical care medicine. They are skilled problem solvers who know how to handle unexpected medical needs that may arise during medical transport.
If your physical or mental health needs are less acute, SentinelMED can arrange for one of our non-medical escorts to provide assistance and companionship during long-distance travel. Traveling with an escort can make long- or short-distance journeys more comfortable and less stressful, especially if you can’t or don’t want to travel alone.
Our medical case managers will carefully select a medical escort for you based on your mental health needs as well as your personal preferences, including gender and religious preferences and native language. Our medical escorts will also ensure that your physical health needs are addressed, whether that means arranging for supplemental oxygen to be available during air travel or administering medicine needed during transport.
Medical Case Management and Medical Escort Services from SentinelMED
In addition to medical case management, SentinelMED offers a range of medical transport services, including domestic and international medical transport and medical repatriation services. In many cases, our team can arrange transport for patients on commercial airlines and accompanied by medical escorts – a cost-effective alternative to air ambulances and fixed-wing aircraft. We can also coordinate logistics and arrange "end-to-end" long-distance transport that requires multiples modes of transport, including ground ambulances and air transport.
The SentinelMED team understands the complexity of delivering exceptional care to people who need assistance during travel. Please contact us to learn more about the services that SentinelMED offers or its staff.
