It’s time to upgrade healthcare delivery

There are two specialties that I truly love in medicine: cardiology and intensive care.

Working in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) is a unique experience. It's incredibly intense, with demanding night shifts and, often, emotionally challenging situations. Plus, working in the ICU necessitates significant personal sacrifices. However, the rewarding aspect is that you're saving lives, and there's likely a team spirit and a familial atmosphere that you can't find anywhere else. It truly embodies a team-based care approach. A big round of applause to the ICU family; their efforts are genuinely remarkable.

And then there's cardiology – this field is amazing. Our 🫀 is like a superhero — an indefatigable muscle tirelessly pumping blood throughout our entire existence. It works vigorously during exercise, slows down as we sleep, and intricately adjusts its rhythm between beats. And when it stops, we stop. 💔

The medical consultation needs an upgrade.

I’m a very social person who loves interacting with people, but I never really liked to do consultations. I thought it was just due to the administrative burden. It took me a while to figure out the real reason behind it. I use cutting-edge technology for cardiac MRI and echocardiography, but during consultations, it felt like I was stuck in the '90s, dealing with outdated technology, spending more time clicking and searching for information than actually connecting with patients, all within a 15-minute window under the pressure of profitability. I didn’t have the time or the tools to provide the quality of care I would like to deliver. Plus, I was unable to focus on preventive care, lifestyle interventions, and adopt a more comprehensive approach.

Despite being on paper a highly specialized academic cardiologist with the highest European level of expertise in cardiac MRI and plenty of publications, I often find myself questioning how many people's lives so far I've made a real difference in consultation.

Your lifestyle is more important than you think.

I could certainly prescribe plenty of drugs to alleviate or suppress symptoms and "treat" conditions like hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, diabetes, heart attacks, heart failure, myocarditis, and many more. I could put them several cardiac stents or send them to surgery. However, I realized I was falling short in addressing the true root cause of their problems — their LIFESTYLE!

And it drove me frustrated for years because the only "prevention" I was doing, if we even can call it prevention, was essentially saying in 2 minutes, "Stop smoking, eat better, and exercise more. See you next year." At least I was saying something, but let's be honest, does this really have any impact on people? I don’t believe so.

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of mortality in the 🌍 and most of them can be avoided or even delayed by lifestyle choices (according to WHO, 80% of them!). Today my job as a cardiologist is mainly to give medications put cardiac stents and send them to surgery. We do not approach things the right way in my honest opinion.

Tiny changes in habits can make remarkable results.

One of the problems is that there's a prevailing notion that people are resistant to changing their habits. I've heard this sentiment echoed, and I, too, used to be convinced of its validity.

But, what if the problem isn't really with you? What if the issue is that we're not making healthcare an experience that genuinely helps you become the best version of yourself? I believe true change in habits comes from a shift in identity, the way we perceive ourselves and I was not focusing on this. Imagine if, instead of just saying "Eat better and exercise more," we sat down and figured out exactly what would work best for the whole you.

For four years, I've been envisioning a new approach to delivering care, but it took a car accident for me to gather the courage to leave my academic career. Yes, it's ironic that it took almost losing my life to find the strength to do Riva but I did it and I’m so happy with my decision!

Today, I no longer want to conduct consultations as I used to; I aspire to approach them in the way I believe they should be. This is one of our goals at Riva: to upgrade the healthcare delivery experience, not only with a more transparent and egalitarian patient-doctor relationship but with a healthier atmosphere, more time, and tools for proactive care. 📱

You may think we are overly optimistic or just crazy fools at Riva, but as Margaret Mead said:

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has. 💪

Laura