Multiple Chronic Conditions: A Day in the Life

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) developed an animated video to raise awareness about health care issues for patients with multiple chronic conditions (MCC). The video depicts “A Day in the Life” of Mae, a 52-year-old woman living with MCC.  We see her as she begins her morning with her family and then proceeds throughout the day, attending multiple appointments with different health care providers.  The video, supported by voice-over narration, depicts the difficulty and effort necessary for Mae to keep up with the numerous, sometimes conflicting, instructions, treatments, and prescriptions she receives from her various providers, while also balancing the demands of her busy life.  Toward the end, the story shifts, showing another and much better option for Mae.  In this option, she, her family, and her clinicians work together to create a care plan just for her. The plan coordinates the care for her multiple conditions and takes into account other factors in her life that affect her health.  It ends with the following call to action, “Working together we can transform the health care system to serve the whole person with all their complexities.  It will take everyone—clinicians, researchers, policymakers, patients and families--working together to get it done.” The video is publicly available and resides on the AHRQ MCC website: http://www.ahrq.gov/professionals/prevention-chronic-care/decision/mcc/video/index.html