South Point Family Practice

When an 8-year-old boy came into South Point Family Practice with symptoms of anaphylactic shock from a bee sting, rapid response was critical. But before the staff could treat the boy, they had to review his medical history, and check allergies and prior treatment. Fortunately, the office is equipped with an eClinicalWorks electronic medical record (EMR) system, so it took just a few seconds to get the information they needed.

Almost four years ago, when South Point Family Practice implemented the EMR, their objective was to deal more efficiently with detailed, time-consuming daily functions such as answering phone calls, managing lab reports and locating charts. However, much of the staff had concerns about the transition from their paper-based system. For example, some physicians and staff were not as comfortable using computers on a regular basis. "That was a very big step," said South Point's Clinical Site Coordinator Robin Whiteside. "[Some physicians] were skeptical, but willing to try."

According to Whiteside, the key to making it through the initial implementation phase and achieving a successful system was having a champion in Dr. David Rinehart, who kept the implementation on track in spite of challenges.

"In the first week of implementation, we had a few people who wanted to throw it out," said Rinehart. "[The new process] was frustrating. There was a lot to learn and some of the people were frustrated by the newness and the inefficiency of getting started. But we persisted."

Whiteside said that Rinehart's implementation strategy made the transition to an electronic system much easier. Rather than switching the entire office overnight, Rinehart oversaw a gradual implementation so that physicians and staff became familiar with one element of the EMR at a time. "We started with the [patient] check-in process," said Whiteside. "We just took a little bit [of the EMR system] at a time until all departments were trained and using eClinicalWorks."

The change was big, but so is the payoff. "We're much, much more organized," said Rinehart. "We are more efficient in managing phone calls, managing lab results [and] keeping track of data."

One of the most noticeable benefits of the practice's EMR system is the ease with which staff members and physicians can locate patient charts. "[When we were using paper charts,] there would be times we'd have three or four chart specialists out hunting for charts. Those people were retrained and are doing different jobs now."