Hello,
I’m Dr. Brittany Lamb.
I Help Dementia Caregivers Make Confident Medical Decisions.
You may be wondering why an ER doctor is helping dementia caregivers. One big reason is the 65+ population is my favorite patient group to care for in the ER. More than half of the patients I see a day fall into this group. I appreciate the lives they have lived. I enjoy listening to their stories, hearing their perspectives about the changes in the world they have witnessed. This is why I chose to practice medicine; to have these human connections and a positive impact in people's lives. Unfortunately, the years of experience and wisdom my patients have had are commonly accompanied by accumulated medical problems. Aging with or without medical problems, means a higher risk of having medical emergencies. It pains me to see people in a medical crisis caught completely off guard, not knowing how to proceed. To me, their medical emergencies are often foreseeable. If they had just been given the knowledge, many of my patients could have made many of their care decisions ahead of time. They could have communicated these decisions or preferences to their loved ones. Patients with dementia are in an even tougher spot compared to their cognitively intact peers. Earlier on, they depend on you--their family caregiver or care partner--to make their decisions and advocate for them. This job should not be taken lightly. It is my belief that our healthcare system is not set up in a way to provide you with the information you need to make informed decisions when you or your loved one is unexpectedly facing a medical issue or critical illness. As an ER physician, I know the choices you will face. I understand the risks and benefits of what we can do in medicine and am skilled in quickly communicating those options to my patients. I can deliver this knowledge to you in plain language. I believe you will know what the best path is to take for your loved one when you are armed with the information you need when faced with a decision you must make. This is why I want to work with you. I can teach you how to better navigate the healthcare system. I want to empower you to make choices based on knowledge. You can learn what is likely to happen to your loved one from a medical standpoint and what the corresponding treatment options are. I will teach you how to make a plan for their care in advance, so you can act instead of react. You will do so knowing you made the best choices you could in the situations you were given. You will gain control over the decisions you must make that will affect their life and yours.
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Interested in my professional background?
I graduated from medical school at
The Florida State University College of Medicine and was residency trained at
The University of Alabama at Birmingham.
I am a board certified emergency medicine attending physician with over twelve years of healthcare experience.
(nearly 9 in the ER).
A few of the topics I help caregivers with...
Advanced Directives.
How to interpret these documents, which can you use and when.
- DNR (Do-Not-Resuscitate)
- POLST (Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment)
- POA (Power of Attorney)
- Living Will
Planning for Medical Emergencies.
Medical emergencies are a when not if, situation. Have a plan for how you will act as things change. The medical complications of dementia, aging, and chronic diseases (ie. CHF (congestive heart failure), atrial fibrillation) are known.
How to talk to your family.
Perhaps your loved one doesn’t want to weigh in or can’t anymore. Learn ways to approach talking to them and other family members about the future. Have the hard talk now to avoid a worse conversation later.
Determining goals of care.
Nurses and doctors will ask you, “what do you want done?” We pin down what is important to your loved one (even if they won’t or can’t tell you now) so we can answer this as things change.
How to communicate with your person's care team.
Health care is getting more fast paced every day. Providers helping you make medical decisions have less and less time for meaningful conversation. I teach you how to make those minutes count.
How you see yourself in this role.
Let’s face it, if you don’t believe you can do this, you will struggle. Becoming informed is the key to making confident medical decisions. I teach you what you need to know quickly and in plain language.
Medications.
Are there medications the medical team may be ok with stopping? We discuss common medication issues that come up as we age. Which meds can help with the symptoms/behaviors of dementia?
Create a plan for how you will make medical decisions for your person.
Each person with dementia has a unique set of symptoms, but the diseases that cause dementia lead to the same result. I teach you what is likely to happen as the disease worsens so we can figure out how you will act when it does.