Dr. Smith Talks About How EHRs Aids in Work Life Balance
A physician since 1989, Dr. Karen Smith runs a one-physician family medicine practice in Raeford, NC. The small, rural community is part of Hoke County, which has only five practicing physicians. Dr. Smith serves about 4,000 active patients. Dr. Smith says, “Having an EHR system that's organized and easily accessible at any time of the day or night is a major benefit for rural physicians. I couldn't do my job without it.”
Before Dr. Smith implemented an EHR, she was staying at the office until 11:30 p.m. every Monday night. “I have four kids at home, and I felt like my husband was raising the children by himself,” she said. Dr. Smith knew that something had to change. “I can still remember the date that my practice decided to use an EHR system – it was April 1, 2003. These days, when I get home in the evening, my husband and I can take a walk together at 6 p.m.,” Dr. Smith said. “I've done most of my work before I leave the office.”
EHR System Aids with Work-Life Balance
Dr. Smith appreciates how her practice’s EHR system enables her to practice and not get burned out. “I can review 50 labs on a Saturday while I'm doing the laundry. I review my labs online, and if I find someone needs to go to the hospital right away, I pick up the phone and call them. If it's a problem that we need to address within 48 hours, I'll put an alert message on my system, so that the person automatically gets a telephone call or an email,” Dr. Smith explained. The alert informs the patient that an appointment has already been scheduled for them, allowing the patient to get the care he or she needs with a much faster turnaround.
Improving Health Care Quality
For Dr. Smith, the number one benefit of switching to an EHR has been how the EHR helps her improve health care quality. “I can now pay more attention to the patient as a person, because I'm spending less time trying to document the visit and write everything down. Having an EHR has brought me closer to my patients. They love to email me,” explained Dr. Smith. The second major benefit has been efficiency. Dr. Smith modified the office's workflow so the practice is able to see more people in the same amount of time. The EHR system also helped Dr. Smith’s practice achieve National Committee for Quality Assurance recognition as a Patient Centered Medical Home, in addition to heart and stroke recognition.
For Dr. Smith, being more efficient and providing better care has turned out to be the same thing. “When I started practicing in this county, I would sometimes receive a call from the emergency room that a patient of mine had been admitted with chest pain, and the doctor there needed the patient's latest EKG,” she recalled. Dr. Smith would have to leave her home, drive eleven miles to get the EKG at the office, and fax it over to the hospital. During the time it took Dr. Smith to retrieve that health data, her patient could have been having a heart attack. “Now, when the emergency room calls me up, I open up the EHR system on my computer, I click a button, and the hospital gets the EKG within a minute,” she says.
Giving the Best Care, in the Office or on the Road
Dr. Smith practices family medicine, and is very involved with the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) to improve health care in her specialty. Before her practice’s EHR system, she couldn’t travel out of state to attend AAFP meetings. Today she can care for her patients even when she is across the country. “Once when I was in Colorado, I was reviewing reports online on a Sunday morning. A physician happened to be discharging a patient of mine from the hospital,” she recalled. “As soon as he completed his discharge report, it went directly to my system. I read it while the doctor was doing his rounds at the hospital, and I was able to get him on the phone before he left.” Dr. Smith advised the physician that her patient would not be compliant with, and the doctor was able to modify, the discharge plan. “It was 9 a.m. for him in North Carolina and 7 a.m. for me in Denver. And despite the hour and the distance, we could still have that level of communication,” Dr. Smith explained.
Physicians are under tremendous pressure to balance the demands of their patient population with the needs of their families. “With an EHR, I'm able to provide quality care for more patients than I had previously been able to. And I can still live a balanced lifestyle.”
