Education as Medicine
The Kerlan-Jobe Center for Sports Neurology and Pain Medicine was founded
by Dr. Williams and intentionally designed as well as physically constructed
to optimize the opportunity for communication as well as the quality of
education, knowledge, and insight provided to patients and clients.
The check-in and waiting room areas were constructed to facilitate exchange
of information from the team to his patients/clients (through scrolling
informational PowerPoint slide presentations available on large format
flatscreens and iPads or desktops). The Center also promotes information
exchange from our patients/clients to us through tablet-based artificial
intelligence and machine-learning programs available prior to or after
examination room assessments.
The examination rooms include comfortable recliner-style chairs that allow
patients and clients to sit at the same height as our examining physicians
to better facilitate communication. The chairs can then be reclined fully
and raised to convert into a traditional “table” for medical
examinations. These rooms also include large format flat-screen monitors
that are used in digital signage mode to project Health Tips to patients
with meaningful, interesting, and easy to understand information on brain
health. These Health Tips are also available on our social media feed,
(with regular updates), in addition to relevant information on Sports
Neurology, Neurological Health Across the Lifespan, and Pain Management.
These in-room flatscreens are also used to project educational information,
animations, and presentations from Dr. Williams’ website (guided
by our medical staff), as indicated/appropriate for the individual patient
and client.
The Center has access to technologies such as
BodyViz that further improve on education and insight. BodyViz is an exciting
and revolutionary way to get a personalized, 3-D interactive image of
what is going on inside the body, directly from MRI or CT scan onto an
iPad. Dr. Williams and his team of health professionals will help patients
and clients combine a unique verbal and visual learning experience, so
they can make better sense out of why they are experiencing what they
are experiencing. This enhances the patients and clients the ability to
make informed, educated medical decisions making and helps Dr. Williams
and his team tailor a treatment plan to meet their specific needs.
Simply stated, Dr. Williams believes that a well-informed patient is a
better patient. Shared medical decision-making results in better outcomes.
He respects the effect that knowledge and insight has on symptom severity,
function, and quality of life. The goal is for patients to benefit from
the highest level of sophistication regarding their diagnosis, recommended
interventions, and the rationale for those recommendations.