OrthoAccess Immediate Care

Episode 27 - OrthoAccess Immediate Care

[00:00:00] Cory Leman: Welcome back to IBJI's OrthoInform, where we talk all things orthopedics to help you move better, live better. I am your guest host today, Cory Leman. I oversee the. Personal training and wellness services for IBJI. I am really excited to be here with you today. Our goal in OrthoINFORM is to provide you with an in depth resource about common orthopedic procedures that we perform and see every day in our company.

It's my pleasure today to welcome Dr. Kevin Hayek. He is one of our physicians here at IBJI. He graduated with AOA honors from Georgetown University's Medical School. Completed his residency at the University of Minnesota in the Twin Cities where he obtained specialized training in orthopedic trauma and sports medicine.

He completed a fellowship in arthroscopic surgery and sports medicine at the University of Chicago, North Shore Orthopedic and Spine Institute. And during his fellowship, he provided medical coverage for the University of Chicago Maroons, Collegiate Athletics and the Concordia University Chicago football team.

Dr. Hayek, super excited to be here with you today. Welcome. Tell me just a little bit more about yourself. Let our listeners know, what should we know about

[00:01:18] Kevin Hayek, MD: you? Cory, thanks for having me on the pod. Great to be here. We had a really interesting topic today, one that is part of my weekly schedule.

I hail from the northwest suburb, so I'm a local. I've been all over the country. I was gone for about 10 years, but I'm happy to be back. It's a great place, you know, to raise a family and that's what I'm doing here. And for me, this is a generational thing. My dad's also an orthopedic surgeon, so, I've sort of joined the family business here.

I love that. That's awesome. What can you say? You got a good role model following their footsteps, so.

[00:01:51] Cory Leman: Yeah, that's awesome. It's in your, it's in your blood. Little bit. A little bit. That's amazing. So today we're talking about ortho access, which you're really familiar with, but a lot of our listeners might not be familiar with this core service line that IBGI provides.

What is ortho

[00:02:09] Kevin Hayek, MD: access? So ortho access is Illinois Bone and Joints orthopedic urgent care or immediate care that offers same day appointments for urgent conditions. It is a great way When you're having a new problem or a problem that's, , just popping up again, to get in quickly, get evaluated, get some answers, and get a plan.

[00:02:33] Cory Leman: Okay, so tell me a little bit more about this. You, you, you mentioned same day, , Now when I think of something that pops up, you know, injury, I slip, I fall, I, you know, I'm somebody with kids, I immediately think, where's the closest hospital or where's the ER? How is this maybe different from something like the emergency

[00:02:56] Kevin Hayek, MD: room?

Yeah, I mean, I think There is fantastic purpose for hospitals. You know, we need them. They're not going away. They have so many resources. What the Urgent Care, , IBJ's OrthoAccess offers is possibly a more convenient approach to it. , for things like slip and falls. injuries during gym, injuries at sports, , you know, some routine things that are just flaring up.

It's a quicker way to maybe get in and get evaluated. , we often can see people a lot quicker than you could in an ER. You might be waiting there for hours, whereas it might be half that time or even less, you know, if you're at, , OrthoAccess. Yeah, I'm sure we've

[00:03:41] Cory Leman: all had those. Dreaded stories in the ER, right?

Where, like, you're laid up on a chair and you're in a ton of pain, but you're kind of dozing in and out of sleep because you're lost in this long line.

[00:03:51] Kevin Hayek, MD: Yep. Or you didn't even make it into the main ER. You're waiting on a chair, you know, because, well, you've got a problem and it's, you know, a big problem for you.

You know, they've got people who've got medical emergencies going on and those just are obviously going to get prioritized, you know, above an ankle sprain, an ankle fracture, a swollen knee, things like that.

[00:04:11] Cory Leman: Yeah. So, talk to me a little bit more. You mentioned emergency. How do you define, like, when would I go to the emergency room versus maybe when could I leverage ortho access?

[00:04:22] Kevin Hayek, MD: That's a great question. , like I said, emergency rooms, they're not going away. Hospitals not going away. We just need those services. What I usually tell patients, what I usually tell my staff is, Couple of general rules, , if you had, you know, for most common things, we're going to be the best, you know, option for you.

If you had an injury where say, you know, you slipped and fall and you hit your head and you lost consciousness or you passed out, you should probably go to the hospital for that because they're just going to have more resources, you know, to evaluate if there is a serious. Thing going on with your general medical health or your nervous system, things like that.

 The other thing I would say is if you were in a car accident And the airbags deployed, you should probably go to the hospital to get checked out.

[00:05:06] Cory Leman: That's a good, that's a good little metric. So, essentially what you're saying is, if something incurs enough trauma,

[00:05:13] Kevin Hayek, MD: Or enough trauma, enough level of energy that it was enough to make you get knocked out, or pass out, or you know, the airbags deployed in the car, that's enough where you should probably go to the hospital to get checked out.

Yeah. For most other things, like you were walking down your steps, it was icy. You rolled your ankle, it's swollen, you want to know if it's broke or not? That's a perfect, that's a perfect, time to come and see us.

[00:05:36] Cory Leman: What would you say, like, fair to say anything like, , muscle tweak, sprain?

[00:05:41] Kevin Hayek, MD: Yeah, muscle tweak, sprain, strain, all those kind of things, can put weight on it.

Even if you can't put weight on it, you know, I would say still come, you know, see us.

[00:05:51] Cory Leman: What about something like Like a flesh wound or what if I, you know, I'm, I'm a kid and I'm jumping over a fence and I, I, I gash my leg open, what, what do I do?

[00:06:03] Kevin Hayek, MD: Well, you know, I think if it's a, if it's a deep enough wound that you're seeing some sort of, , you know, what's called subcutaneous tissue or fat.

Or even muscle, you know, that's one where you should probably go to the ER. , minor scrapes, things like that, you know, we're happy to see those, you know, and get x rays and things like that, make sure nothing deeper is broken. , you know, the other thing I would tell people is, it's reasonable, you know, if it doesn't seem that bad, to initially, you know, try to manage it yourself.

You know, if you have questions, that's, or it doesn't seem like it's quite right, come see us, or give us a call. You know, that's what we're there for. , to tell you, you know, if you need If people have questions about whether or not we're the right place for them, we encourage them to call. And, you know, if we're unsure, we'll, you know, give you the benefit of the doubt.

We might tell you that sounds better, you know, in a hospital, but by and large, we're going to tell you to come in. We'll see you and we'll try and figure it out. Now like,

[00:06:54] Cory Leman: I'll give you a common example that happens to me every day, doc. I, you know, or it happens frequently. I will go to sleep, I wake up and somehow my bed or my pillow or something makes my neck hurt.

You know, I wake up and I'm like, oh my god, my neck is It's stiff, it's strong. Is something like that, like, could I just pop into an ortho access and have one of the physicians look at me? Or is that something that, no, this, this needs to be more an immediate pressing

[00:07:25] Kevin Hayek, MD: injury. I think it depends, you know, on how severe it is.

You know, if it's enough that it's really kind of interfering with your day, it's unusual for you to have this, you know, then come in. You know, or if you're getting any kind of funny feelings, like in your hand or fingers. Tingling, numbness, that'd be a reason to come in, but a lot of people, you know, also, they start the treatment on their own and we, you know, in most cases, you know, encourage that.

I think most people know, you know, the, the rice, you know, sort of algorithm, a little bit of rest, some ice or heat, a little bit of compression and elevation, you know, and that's true for like lower extremity injuries. And I would tell you, starting with some ibuprofen or an NSAID, in most cases, and, , Tylenol, very reasonable, some ice or heat, and then seeing if it gets better.

And if it gets worse, again, that's when we'd have you come in. A word about the NSAIDs, so people always ask about ibuprofens, the leaves, naproxens. So all those are in a category called NSAIDs or non steroidal anti inflammatories. They're really great medications and for most people they're an initial first start.

, for some people, , often who are a little bit older, like if you have some medical conditions. Some stomach problems, some kidney issues. It might be one where you should talk to your primary doc to see if that's a reasonable option, but most primary docs now are usually pretty good about telling you if those are options or if they want you to stay away from them.

[00:08:50] Cory Leman: Yeah. So really kind of what I hear you saying is ortho access is really It's, it's a service provided almost for that, that immediate care that doesn't go all the way to like a trauma or an emergency room visit. , it's maybe not like something that's ongoing, although you guys would be willing to see somebody like that, but something happens, maybe it's a sports injury, maybe you're playing pickle, maybe you're playing tennis, you know, you feel something in your calf, or you feel something in your Achilles, sounds like that's then the perfect time.

Let's get booked at ortho

[00:09:25] Kevin Hayek, MD: access. Absolutely. And what I'll tell you is one of the things that I think that, uh, IBJI does great about ortho access and what separates us from, say, other urgent cares or the hospital. You're going to see an orthopedic provider when you go there. So you're going to see somebody with specialized musculoskeletal knowledge and this is all they think about.

You know, all day. Injuries to bones, tendons, joints, cartilage, all that. And so, what I think it does, is it gives you better answers. And it gives you a plan of care, and really, you're going to shorten your waiting time to get those answers. So,

[00:10:04] Cory Leman: It's almost like a streamlined approach, because not that, , a physician at a, just a normal urgent care couldn't direct you the right, to the right, , space, but like you just alluded to, there's that intermediate step of, okay, I see this physician, now they need to send me to a specialized, , orthopedic physician, whereas you're saying, when you come in, , You've got the specialist who knows how to handle these tweaks, sprains, muscle pulls, whatever it

[00:10:32] Kevin Hayek, MD: may be.

Yeah, and absolutely to get you the right diagnostic workup. I find that, yeah, most commonly, the urgent care is the EDs. They get the initial appropriate x rays and workup, you know, and then they'll send them to us, , which is great. We really, you know, appreciate that because I want to, you know, see these people if they're not getting better very quickly.

And then, you know, usually at that point. Maybe there's additional imaging. Maybe you need an MRI or maybe you need a CT. So with the ortho axis, I can pretty quickly triage who might need that, you know, the day of injury. There's some, you know, very obvious things like if you were playing soccer and you felt a pop and you have a swollen knee, you need an MRI.

, if you were, you know, working overhead and you felt something tearing in your shoulder, you know, and now you can't lift your shoulder up above your head. You need it. You're going to need an MRI. We're worried about a rotator cuff. If you were bench pressing at the gym, you felt a pop in your chest. It might have a pec tear, you know, so those kinds of things, I'm getting an MRI right away.

And you came in, you got one visit, and now we're getting the diagnostic imaging. So it certainly saves you a couple of days, if not maybe even a week, because sometimes it can take a little bit longer, you know, to get in when you're scheduled. The other thing I'll say about it is, like I said, you're going to see an orthopedic provider.

And in ortho axis, we see all kinds of things. So I have special interest in hip, knee, and shoulder, but wrists, ankles, Anything that comes in, we're going to see it, we're going to evaluate you, because that's part of our training. And, you know, most commonly these patients, they become my patients after this.

So when you follow up, you're going to see me in the clinic. Or if my partner's running the ortho axis, you'll follow up with them. And if needed, if somebody's got a specialization, like if it comes to a hand thing, um, and you end up needing surgeries for that, I might have you see my partner. I might have you see Remington.

[00:12:27] Cory Leman: And I think that's, that's huge, Doc, because to be able to not only have that streamlined care, but then To be able to continue to work with you. Oh, this is the person who triaged me, look at, looked at all these things. And now I'm doing my follow up appointment with you, you know, whatever it was that I went through and you can continue to guide me.

 I feel like so much of, of good interaction is done based on solid relationships. Right? And I love the fact that, you know, if I come in and I see you at an ortho access, I get continued care likely with someone like

[00:13:03] Kevin Hayek, MD: yourself. Yeah. And what I'll tell you is the ortho access is actually one of the most rewarding is one of the most rewarding parts of the clinic because you're getting people who are coming in.

There's a lot of anxiety. There's a lot of questions. Most the biggest question is. Is it broke? You know, and that's the most common thing, like, everybody wants to see the x rays, so I make sure when I'm going through, we're looking at the pictures together, I always point out what I'm seeing. People are very, very grateful and to have this service because it relieves a tremendous amount of anxiety in that we got some good answers and I would tell you better answers because I look at tons of x rays, tons of imaging all the time.

And so that, you know, that's the specialty there that when I tell you what I'm saying, I'm going to say it confidently because that's how I feel and there's not going to be as wishy washy, you know, you know, potentially is it broke? Is it not? We're not sure. You know, go see this person, wait three days, see this person.

So I think that's one of the huge benefits of it. And

[00:14:01] Cory Leman: not to cut you off, but I think that is, that's an amazing point that we should talk about. Doc, I have anxiety just thinking about my kids tripping and falling and, Oh my good goodness, where are we going to go? And where's the closest location and how do we do this?

And I think like to have a resource like this, where we can easily. Access, physician care, same day, and get some of those questions answered. That to me is, that's worth its weight in gold.

[00:14:30] Kevin Hayek, MD: Yeah. So And I'll tell you what, it just got even easier. Because we just added a new feature called Reserve My Spot.

 Reserve My Spot is a way to self schedule. So you can reduce your wait time. , this is not something new. This is something that we said the people want and people are looking for. I mean, this is how the world works now. You go online or you go on your phone. You know, if you want to go pick up a Target order or you want to get Chick fil A or you're getting your Starbucks.

It's about the convenience of scheduling things so you're not waiting somewhere as long. We have expanded on this idea of, if possible, don't wait at the ER. If possible, don't even wait for us. Come in and we'll get you in and we'll get you out. So. So, the way this works now is so, at the top of the IBJI.

com website, there's a banner and in medical red, so you can't miss it, it says ortho access. You click on there and then on the right side of the screen, there's another button that says reserve my spot. There's kind of two options in there, depending on the time of day, but it'll show you all the locations.

And we have 14 locations, , there's about four that are closest here in the northwest suburbs, but 14 locations throughout the Chicago area. It'll show you what's open, and then there's either options to schedule a specific spot. Or to start in the queue for the same day waiting, and so a lot of flexibility.

[00:15:55] Cory Leman: I just did this, Doc. I pulled this up for, for our listeners to hear. I pulled this up, I went to IBGI, I saw this, reserved my spot. This is incredible. It walks me through exactly where I can get access. I'm, I'm on here right now, and I see, I can get an appointment. In Morton Grove, Kankakee, Gurney, Hinsdale, Joliet, Western Springs, Frankfurt, all over.

I realize I can get an appointment within 30 minutes. And this goes all the way back to the beginning of our conversation about the emergency room. Right? And again, I'll caveat by saying, hey, if you have that trauma, go to the emergency room. Right? This isn't, , for that high level trauma, but for those tweaks, those sprains, those strains, you know, those orthopedic issues.

This is amazing. I can book and be seen right away without the wait time. I love it.

[00:16:48] Kevin Hayek, MD: Yeah. And like I said, the patient experience is a very important part to us. That's why, you know, we have the orthopedic urgent care. That's why we have ortho access. And this expands upon that because everybody is so busy nowadays.

There's so many things going on in the world. That, like I said, if you can save four hours, that's fantastic. That's more time you can spend with your family. That's more time, you know, you can spend getting the things you need to do done. We want to help you do that. And I'm, this just dropped this week.

We've already got tons of people using it. , so I think the response has been great and

[00:17:26] Cory Leman: we're here for you. Okay, so to bring this thing full circle, ortho axis, it's really a great option for any non life threatening injury thing that, thing that arises. And more convenient than ever, you can reserve your spot.

Just go into ibji. com. You can't miss it. It's right there at the top, like you said, Doc. This is awesome stuff and hopefully really useful for our listeners. One other thing I like to do, just talk and chat, but anytime we've got, an orthopedic specialist, what's a tip or two for myself, selfishly, our listeners, to help us move better, live better?

What is something you do in your life that is keeping you healthy, keeping you moving, that we could benefit from?

[00:18:16] Kevin Hayek, MD: Yeah, I just, to sum up the ortho axis, I want to say, you know, at Illinois Bone and Joint, we care a lot about the patient experience. And that's why we have created the Orthopedic Access. And more than that, that's why you see an orthopedic provider, someone with specialized knowledge, so that you can get in and get better answers and a better plan right away.

And that I would say is, we're here for you. , what I do personally, I drink a lot of water. This sounds crazy. I mean, we've got, , big sort of air movers at our clinic, so it's actually fairly dry. So I'm one of these guys who's got, , I'm part of the culture now. I'm part of the problem. It's me. I'm the problem.

I have one of these giant Stanleys. It's, it's pervasive in healthcare and everybody in my clinic, my whole team has one. So we drink a lot of water. , I think that's good. The other thing is, , the other thing I always tell people is, I am a big believer in stretching and warming up. Now, this is super controversial in the area of like physical therapy, athletic training.

Lots of studies that say it does or doesn't matter. But what I would tell you is, I think it's important to have like a routine so that you know how your body is going to perform. I like that. I have a routine like for how I set up myself for clinic and how I go to the, you know, OR. I pretty much do the same thing, you know, every morning.

You know, and that way I'm comfortable. I know how my body is going to perform. Things like that. And I think it's just an important thing to have that part of it. Whether or not it's your favorite music playlist or it's your favorite breakfast snack. And I think you have some regularity like that really, really helps.

Water and then have a routine, whether it's in your life or it's in your sports. And part of that routine is. Warming up, and whether it's mentally warming up or physically warming up, it's an important part to get the day

[00:19:58] Cory Leman: going. I think that's brilliant, right? And maybe that, that warm up can help keep people out of ortho access.

You know, maybe it'll keep them, keep them moving, keep them going. But if in the event they do have that tweak, that strain, we're here for them,

[00:20:15] Kevin Hayek, MD: right? I'm here for you. If you've got a problem, come see me, come see my partners. We'll figure it out. We'll get you the answers that you need. I love it. Thanks, Doc.

Thank you for having me.