The role of the patient care manager in the clinical team is to provide true patient-centered care by facilitating all levels of communication. The patient care manager must become the communicator who creates the environment that will identify the total needs of the patient—including the patient’s family/support system—and who will coordinate meeting those needs in an appropriate manner with the entire clinical team. At the same time, the patient care manager and the clinical team must be able to transfer critical information from the medical team to the patient in a manner that will ensure that the ongoing needs of the patient will be met. Listening, explaining, and understanding are the key ingredients in facilitating the dynamics of this exchange.

As previously mentioned, this communication process must begin at a very early stage. In order to ensure proper patient-centered care in a program treating patients with chronic groin pain, the appropriate clearances must be obtained from primary care physicians or referring medical specialists in such areas as pulmonology, cardiology, and other specialized fields. The patient must be informed of the various alternatives for travel to and from the medical facility. Possible needs and alternatives must be explored for convenient accommodations for patient and family members before, during, and following the planned treatment, test, or procedure at the medical center. The patient must be aware of the specific paperwork required for employers, insurance providers, and others with whom the patient is connected. The patient care manager and the clinical team must be aware of and actively considering these needs in order to provide all of the information needed by the patient as soon as it is required. The viewpoint required for all of this is that of the patient. The clinical team should be thinking, “What does the patient need?”