EHR Implementation Struggles and 3 Ways to Do It Well

In this article, I will share three important concepts that will take a lot of the struggle out of your EHR implementation. Each one of these are simple to implement and produce immediate results.

Let's face it ... doctors don't like documentation requirements no matter what form they take. Remember back to the days of paper charts for a moment ... you hated those too ... piles of them on your desk and sometimes on the office floor ... reminding you of the visits you still needed to remember and document.

The Electronic Health Record takes away the piles ... and puts a whole bunch of new stresses on us to keep our charts complete. Are things worse than in the days of paper? A significant number of physicians say yes

Here is what a recent AmericanEHR survey learned in 2012

Tags: Physician Burnout, Physician Coaching, physician stress, EMR

Physician Burnout Training Video [5 min]

Tags: Dike Drummond MD, Physician Burnout, physician burnout video, Physician Coaching, physician burnout videos

Batch Processing, Patient Flow and the science of how to Get Home On Time

Do you find yourself spending too much time on things that have nothing to do with seeing patients – and then getting home later than you would like?

Do you notice that for every 15 minutes you spend with a patient you spend WAY more than that messing around in the EMR and being distracted by things like prescription refills, test results and a hundred other forms of two bit clerical work in your day?

Does your organization expect you to access your EMR from home to complete chart notes in the evenings after you have tucked your kids into bed? ARRRGGGGHHH !   :-(

I wish I had a chance to shadow you in your office, because there are a number small changes you can make right now that will shave hours off of your “non-clinical activities”.

They don’t teach these things in residency … so let me share the top two tools I have found to get you home on time – with your charts done – more often. If you are not doing these two simple tasks every day in the office you are working WAY too hard and getting home at least an hour later than you have to.

Tags: Dike Drummond MD, Physician Burnout, Physician Coaching, Physician Leadership

Learn Physician Burnout Pathophysiology and 2 Main Prevention Methods in this brief video

Tags: physician burnout prevention, Dike Drummond MD, Physician Burnout, physician burnout treatment, physician burnout video, Physician Coaching

Patient Satisfaction and Pay For Performance in Healthcare ( P4P ) – three things all doctors need to know.

Tags: Dike Drummond MD, Physician Burnout, Physician Coaching, Physician Engagement

Physician engagement is a major healthcare industry buzz word these days – and a universal yearning for healthcare leaders

Now that organizations can get paid more for higher patient satisfaction scores, everyone is trying to solve the “mystery” of physician engagement among their providers.

Let me show you why physician engagement is not some mysterious black art and share some simple steps from a classic business book to create more physician engagement in any organization.

Tags: Dike Drummond MD, Physician Burnout, Physician Coaching, Physician Engagement

Are Physicians the Canary in the Coal Mine of Medicine?

Back in the day, coal miners always carried a canary with them in a small cage whenever they would go down in the mine. The canary is a very talkative bird, always singing and tweeting in a constant background noise. Canaries have one more characteristic important to a miner.

When there is bad air in the mine, the canary’s sensitive lungs will cause it to drop over dead before the miners notice any shortness of breath. When the bird stops singing … the miners head for the surface … fast. It is a life saving maneuver.

Here in 2013 as we start to implement the provisions of Obamacare and projections of physician shortages as high as 91,500 by 2020 come from respected sources, I believe we have a similar “coal mine” situation in healthcare.

Unfortunately, physicians appear to be the canary in the mine.

Tags: Dike Drummond MD, Physician Burnout, Physician Coaching, physician stress

Tags: physician burnout prevention, physician burnout treatment, physician burnout video, Physician Coaching, physician burnout tools

Work Life Balance and the Schedule HACK Shortcut

Here is a simple, powerful shortcut a client and I came up with this week for quickly helping anyone create more work life balance

Tags: Dike Drummond MD, Physician Burnout, Work Life Balance, Physician Coaching, time management

Work Life Balance for Doctors – day hike to Hidden Lake Lookout

Tags: physician burnout prevention, Physician Burnout, Work Life Balance, Physician Coaching, physician stress, Physician Leadership