Physicians, Clinicians: Thank You

Authored by Mark Johnson, VP Managed Services @ GuideIT

For anyone who has spent the bulk of their career in healthcare IT, a venture into an in/out-patient setting for one’s own health is always an interesting experience.  Throughout the process you can’t help but say – “it’s 2015 and we’re still doing this?”  For me it was in preparation for that first (dreaded) “over 50 procedure”.  It started with far too much paperwork, some of it redundant, and some of it collecting information I had already provided in their portal (sadly with no linkage to my HealthVault account).  Then I arrived in the clinic and was not only faced with more paperwork, but music that was playing way too loud on a morning that I was already grumpy from not being able to eat the day prior.

But then, everything changed.  Once I left the waiting room, every clinician I interacted with was simply outstanding.  From the prep nurse, to the anesthesiologist, to the doctor himself.  They actually seemed to really and truly enjoy their work!  And their positive approach to delivery of care translated directly to an extremely positive patient-clinician interaction.

So while there’s plenty of time to talk about how to better leverage IT in the delivery of care, for me today this is simply a “hat’s off and well done” to the people that really make such a tremendous difference in our lives – clinicians and their staff.
Oh, and if you’re wondering – it turns out it was a very good thing I had this taken care of.  So listen to your physician.