Practice Partner User Profile -- Internal Medicine

Internal Medicine Associates of Arlington Hospital in Arlington, Virginia has eight examination rooms and a small laboratory for tests such as urinalysis. When Drs. Sarah Corley and Jo Cartmell first considered an electronic medical record, they were looking for a tool that would help them improve patient care, increase the efficiency of their practice, and save time. The also wanted a complete system that would computerize all aspects of their practice. They found what they needed with the Practice Partner system from Practice Partners.

The Practice Partner system includes Patient Records, an electronic medical record designed to emulate all aspects of the paper-based chart, Medical Billing for financial practice management, and Appointment Scheduler for daily patient appointments. All of the applications are comprehensive and can stand alone, but together they provide a practice with an integrated tool that encompasses all of the financial, clinical, and operational elements necessary to successfully run a practice.

The clinicians enter progress notes through the use of templates. Practice Partner Patient Records comes with over 200 standard templates. Dr. Corley has modified these templates to fit the specific needs of her practice. Customizing the templates is easy and requires no programming skills.

Dr. Corley has also developed many QuickText entries, which are frequently used phrases, sentences, or even paragraphs. Practice Partner Patient Records comes with many QuickText entries already created, and users can quickly and easily create their own custom entries. To use QuickText, simply select the entry from a pick list and, with one keystroke, the entry is inserted into the progress note. This allows the clinical staff to write complete progress notes in a minimum amount of time.

The practice also finds the prescription-writing tool valuable. A drug can be selected with just a couple of keystrokes, and then Patient Records provides information on possible allergic reactions, drug interactions, and cost. It also updates the progress note and medication list and prints out a legible prescription for the doctor to sign. Drug interaction and costing information are available as quarterly updates from PMSI. According to Dr. Corley, "The prescription writing tool is very nice. I also use the drug interaction information. Many of my patients are taking multiple medications, so this feature is very useful."

Another feature that Dr. Corley values is the flow chart capability. Patient Records can generate flow charts from any of the patient data fields, such as laboratory data, vital signs, or medications. The user simply chooses the data to be plotted and it is transformed into an easy-to-understand graph. Dr. Corley finds this useful not only for tracking a patient's progress, but also for educating patients: "The graphing tool is very nice. It is an effective patient education tool. For example, I can show a patient with diabetes how blood sugar levels change with weight gain." She notes that a graph can clearly and accurately show trends that are not easily seen in a list of tabular data.

Accessibility is another key benefit of the system. The record can be accessed from any location where there is a computer and a modem, such as from home or the hospital. As Dr. Corley explains, "The record is always available to me. If I'm paged in the evening or on a weekend, I can access the record from home. If a patient has been admitted to the hospital, I can access the record and see what their previous test results looked like."

The office staff also appreciates the time saved and efficiency gained by using Patient Records. Charts no longer have to pulled and refiled. The internal email that is built in to Patient Records enhances communication and saves time. Email messages can be linked to the patient record so that one keystroke opens the relevant section of the chart. For example, if the doctor receives an email regarding a prescription renewal, a simple keystroke opens the medication list on the patient record. This feature is a big timesaver according to John Barber, Office Manager: "If a patient calls in for a prescription renewal, the doctor can be sent an email message with the electronic chart attached. A paper chart doesn't have to be pulled and delivered to the doctor. It saves a lot of time."

The office staff also appreciates the advantage of having the total Practice Partner system. Patient Records, and Appointment Scheduler bring together all the elements necessary to run a practice, and they provide a platform for information-sharing between applications. As John Barber explained, "The biggest advantage is that it is one system. When a new patient comes in, the information is entered once and a record is created in all three applications. Changes are entered once and records are updated in all the applications."

The Total Practice Partner system also enhances communication and allows problems to be solved more quickly and easily. Notes entered in one application will appear in all of them. For example, a note entered in Medical Billing regarding an overdue account will appear on the Patient Record. When the patient comes in for an appointment and the nurse accesses the patient record, she can remind the patient to talk to the accounting staff before he or she leaves.

Internal Medicine Associates has found Practice Partner very easy to use. According to John Barber,"Doctors don't like change, but they love this program!"