Dr Sand Russell-Atkinson knows the value of a good coach.
The Comox family physician sought help from FPSC’s Practice Support Program (PSP) last year for panel maintenance ahead of a quality improvement project on congestive heart failure.
The support has helped to keep her on track, focus on relevant goals of practice improvement, and stay accountable, Dr Russell-Atkinson says.
"Having a PSP coach for support helps me focus on the aspects of my practice that are important to me—to prioritize parts of the panel and to find where I have made progress, and where I can build from there,” says Dr Russell-Atkinson, a member of the Comox Valley Division of Family Practice.
FPSC’s Practice Support Program offers services for family physicians to optimize their practice, enhance their use of health technology, reduce administrative burden, and effectively manage their patient panel. Physicians can access support for their practice needs by submitting a service request to PSP via the Doctors of BC website.
Coaches provide a tailored approach to how the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) can improve office efficiency and practice workflows.
In Dr Russell-Atkinson’s case, PSP coach Allie Barr was enlisted to help wupdate her panel and identify patients with chronic pulmonary disorders like asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and tobacco use disorder.
Barr says she coded all patients noted as smoker or ex-smoker in the EMR and created a reminder of those with an unknown smoking history. She also ensured congestive heart failure patients were properly coded for Dr Russell-Atkinson’s Quality Improvement project.
Important tasks like updating patient demographics and status were flagged for follow-up with patients. Barr also added tasks or reminders to the EMR throughout the day, saving time for Dr Russell-Atkinson.
"The way I previously charted, I would have had to go by memory, or do extensive chart review of encounter notes to find which patients I have talked to about COPD or smoking cessation," Dr Russell-Atkinson says.
"I have a relatively small panel so I probably could do that, but for many physicians, particularly if they are starting a new practice and have inherited hundreds of new patients, there is no way they would be able to wade through all that patient information unless you have some kind of
organization within your EMR."
PSP provides that integral organizational support, she says. Coaches not only provide tools on how to use the EMR more effectively, but offer insights gleaned from their interactions with other physicians.
“That shared experience around work flow used to be found in casual conversations in the coffee room or doctors lounge, but these days many of us work more independently, and have lost that sense of community learning," Dr Russell-Atkinson says. "Working with a PSP coach increases the meaningful way you can look at a disease process or a patient population. You just feel more confident with how you're managing your panel."
The work has resulted in more patient-centred care, she says. Rather than just focusing on the disease process, Dr Russell-Atkinson says she is more equipped to talk to her patients about specific care interventions, such as smoking cessation or being more environmentally conscious when prescribing inhalers.
“Every time I open up their chart, that reminder is going to come up,” she says. “It enables me to have a discussion about environmental sustainability in context of inhalers, which just opens up more dialogue with patients.”
The updated information in the EMR also makes it easier to transition care to locums and other team members who may need to access her patient data when she away.
“We now have a system where we can contain all of that important information. There’s a journey of COPD and being able to know where we are on that journey as a provider is as important as knowing where the patient is on that journey. Hopefully we can capture that a little easier.”
Barr says she loves showing physicians little tricks to improve their workflow.
“I’m very passionate about the support we provide through panel management,” she says. “I feel very accomplished when I can help and when we know they have a clean panel and can easily work through their day.”
Dr Russell-Atkinson says she appreciates the coaches as she would not have had the time to do the work on her own.
“Once you have a good system in place for basic panel management, it doesn’t take that much time,” says Dr Russell-Atkinson.