New Visions in Health. New Vision Family Health Team.
Better Bedside
Databases are good at compiling info, but they don’t have great bedside manners. Still, they can be used in the exam room to great effect. Every room has an iMac running Practice Solutions. “We can generate graphs and tables easily,” says Cescon. “That helps our patients see what’s going on with their health.” When patients have cholesterol tests, it’s entered into their files. The results can be graphed to illustrate increases. “Or, if the patient is trying to lower cholesterol levels, I can show the progress,” says Cescon. Additionally, the user-friendly features that make Macs a hit at home make them accessible in the exam room. “The Macs are approachable and our patients are very comfortable with them.”
New Vision physicians can enter notes about symptoms during an exam, but they can also get visuals. “With the iMac’s built-in camera, we can take a snapshot right there,” says Cescon. “If they have a rash, we can take a picture and open it up in Practice Solutions.” Snapshots can help if a physician needs to consult a specialist or if they want to visually track an ailment.
The doctors also track their patients’ progress from home using their own Macs. Cescon uses his MacBook Pro notebook to log into Practice Solutions via a secure VPN. The network grants Cescon secure access to the records from virtually anywhere. “I use my Mac for everything at home, from using iPhoto to organizing family pictures to checking on the Blue Jays and the CBC,” he says. “I can also do all of my office work through my laptop because my business records and email are on it.”
Maintaining the VPN is painless, thanks to the Macs. “We have almost no problems with the Mac network,” says Cescon. “It’s super-stable and that’s important.” Practice Solutions and Macs have brought a new level of communication to the practice, and communication is key in any medical office.
Clear Communication
It’s not easy to coordinate a dozen staff members, eight physicians and 12,000 patients. If you want everything to run smoothly, you’ve got to keep in touch. Cescon’s Macs, and Practice Solutions, wire everyone together.
New Vision staff checks Practice Solutions to see if patients are due for a checkups or follow-ups. They send the patient appointment reminders (via e-mail or post) and relay schedules to doctors. When patients arrive, doctors enter info into Practice Solutions with keyboard or voice-recognition software. If they need to call in a prescription, Practice Solutions faxes prescriptions to the pharmacist. If they need a specialist, they can write a request in the application as well.
“There’s really no comparison to the way we used to do things,” says Cescon. “The system is so more efficient. It lets us be better doctors because we don’t have to worry about the paperwork.”
The Macs also let the New Vision staff do their job more efficiently. “It’s easier to train someone on the Mac than it is on a PC,” says Cescon. “Our office staff learned how to use the new system quickly. They were able to get going much more quickly than if they were using PCs.”
“The Macs are intuitive,” says Jennifer Willsie, office manager at New Vision. “I never need to call in anyone from Practice Solutions to train a new staff member. I do it myself.”
With all the advances in medical science during the last 50 years, it seems that most physicians would use electronic records. But only about 10 or 20 percent of medical offices in Canada have switched. One of the barriers, says Cescon, is ease of use. Convoluted systems only get in the way of healthcare. “The Macs and Practice Solutions are so easy to use, so easy to learn,” says Cescon. “It’s a logical choice for any office and I hope more switch from paper records. It will help us all get more done.”
