ADVANCE for Executive Insight 1 ADVANCE for Executive Insight

mobile medicine
As a result of the adoption of this technology and
related back-end transcription platform, we’ve been
able to decrease our transcriptionist staff — which
has led to reduced overhead — and physician productivity
has increased by as much as 400%.
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have been addressed. Put simply, communicate
early and communicate often.
Foster Physician Champions – Early adopters
are your best bet when it comes to ensuring a
smooth transition to a new mobile technology.
Let these folks be the voice of reason because a
peer-to-peer approach to training and information
sharing has more value than a top down, IT
approach.
Collaborate with Vendors on Emerging Solutions
– One of the main reasons Kearney Clinic
has had such notable success with mobile dictation
solutions is that we bought in on the vision
of this solution before all the bells and whistles
had come to market. As a result, we were able
to influence how this technology has evolved
over the years. Considering that many mobile
solutions are still “green,” it’s worth considering
what vendors have a proven track record of success
when it comes to bringing new solutions to
market and driving regular advancements in
the technology. These are the mobile IT partnerships
you want to embrace.
Kearney Clinics’ Success
I also want to share a bit more on our particular
mobile story of success in the hope that your
organization can learn from our efforts. Kearney
Clinic is a multi-specialty clinic serving Nebraska
and parts of Kansas and South Dakota.
Our 30-plus physicians see about 500 patients
a day, and more than half are walk-ins. Back in
the good old days, physicians dictated their notes
into handheld tape recorders and those tape recorders
were passed on to our 25 transcriptionists,
who then shared the transcribed notes after
the patient had left the clinic. As healthcare
evolved, the need and importance of near immediate
access to the patient’s transcribed note
became more evident -- and actually feasible for
that matter.
Today, all of our physicians are using the iPhone
4 or iPhone 5 and the latest in voice-enabled, mobile
dictation technology (Nuance). As a result of
the adoption of this technology and related backend
transcription platform, we’ve been able to decrease
our transcriptionist staff -- which has led to
reduced overhead — and physician productivity
has increased by as much as 400%. Other benefits
of this on-the-go approach to dictation include
the ability for clinicians to dictate anytime, anywhere
and to actually go home sooner at the end
of the day. Moreover, our physicians have noted
their belief that dictation offers a more personal
connection to the patient because it allows them
to enter notes right in front of the patient so
there’s no miscommunication; additionally, the
note is a direct reflection of the patient’s situation
and care plan.
As noted above, one of the key reasons we’ve
been so successful with mobile dictation and now
with integrating mobile dictation with our electronic
medical record (Greenway) is that we took
a chance with the technology early on and also
evolved our approach in line with advancements
in emerging devices. We also failed early and
failed often with a small group of beta testers so
that we were able to hone our approach swiftly to
ensure our physicians had the best technology at
hand to dictate the patient note in a manner that
suited their workflow. Additionally, we armed
our transcription team with added technology
and functionality so as to take a two-pronged
approach to streamlining the dictation-to-transcription
process. As a result, in addition to the
previously mentioned physician productivity
benefits, we’ve also seen an average 40 percent
increase transcription productivity, and a reduction
in transcription staff required to maintain
the same level of 24-hour maximum turnaround.
On-the-Go Tools
As clinicians and the organizations they work
for adopt a more mobile workflow, solutions
that help them save time and improve patient
care while on-the-go will be in high demand.
Technology, like mobile-voice-enabled dictation,
will undoubtedly be one of the key tools in the
next-generation “doctor’s bag.” As you approach
this transition to mobility, don’t lose sight of the
importance of keeping a laser focus on the human
in healthcare and arming clinicians with
mobile technologies that allow them to work
smarter, not harder.
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