Unless you are making a purposeful contribution to charitable good works, it’s likely that you are not intending to work for free. Not getting compensated for your work is not only unfair, but it’s a dealbreaker when you consider the cost of turning on the lights, paying your staff, covering your malpractice insurance – [...]
The average American uses 700 pounds of paper per year – a startling fact for anyone who has ever attempted to lift such a hefty load. For doctors who literally live and die by the sheet and ream, they often feel as if they’re actually carrying the weight of that paperwork on their shoulders. [...]
Old habits are hard to break – which is why it’s amazing to behold how much abuse we’ll sign on for in the interest of keeping the status quo. Though one could argue that the very adoption of the iDevice – the one in your hand right now, likely – represents the embrace of [...]
Inpatient medicine is unique. Unlike the singular relationship between patient and provider in the office, hospitalized patients are often cared for by a team of doctors and APPs, sometimes changing on a daily basis. How are these providers to relay information to each other? With each day there is another chapter of a patient’s [...]
Long gone are the good old days of pagers and fax machines to help doctors and practices communicate (thank goodness). With the recognition of patient privacy needs and advancements in technology, there are now secure electronic options for messaging. Which should you choose? What do you really need? Privacy Is the Priority Providers and [...]
In the practice of medicine no two worlds are farther apart than the inpatient and outpatient ones. There is a true disconnection between the goings-on in the hospital and the support staff back at the office. Unfortunately, this gap often leads to loss of patient follow up, suboptimal care, and in certain instances, hospital [...]
You work hard as a medical provider taking care of patients. There are the countless hours interacting with nurses and families. Then comes the documentation, which seems to get more demanding with each passing year. To not receive compensation for your work is not an option. Yet somehow we have processes in place that [...]
The process of rounding at the hospital has been paper-based since the beginning of time. Providers print a list of patients, fold it neatly into their pocket, and proceed to venture from floor to floor of each hospital they cover. Along the way they diligently collect paper facesheets containing patient demographics and insurance information, [...]
One of the most frequent complaints from practicing physicians is the erosion over the past 20 years of time spent with patients. Direct patient care now only accounts for 30% of total provider time. So, what’s the other 70%? Charting and clerical work. And for the doctors rounding at multiple facilities, throw in driving [...]
This is the time for change. Wanted or not, medicine has evolved and adapted. Doctors are finally looking at their daily lives and are seeking out ways to make it easier. Desire for improvement seems to be driven by one part battle fatigue, one part enlightenment. We healthcare providers are now asking “Why? Why [...]
