When you’re in urgent care, inefficiencies and other time wasters have a heavy impact on the patient experience, and can even sometimes influence the quality of care. Challenges with workflow and charting are two of the most likely things that slow down staff and providers. However, there are relatively easy fixes you can employ within your EMR to remove obstacles to not only get patients through the door more quickly, but also spend more time with them while doing so.
Here are some best practices from Amanda Heidemann, a family physician with extensive experience in the ER and urgent care.
1. Implement Clinical Governance
Clinical governance is essential for ensuring that your practice runs smoothly. It involves making operational, clinical, and technical decisions about how to use your EMR system effectively. Two important considerations:
- Customization levels: Decide whether to customize at the organization, clinical location, or provider level. Customizing at the organization level can save time and ensure consistency in patient care. For example, if each provider has their own setup, and a major clinical recommendation changes, updating each one individually can be time-consuming. But if you have it customized at the organization level, it’s easier to manage. This approach ensures patients get consistent care, no matter who they see or how busy the practice is, leading to better health outcomes.
- Standardization: Standardize discharge instructions and medication usage to provide a consistent patient experience and improve clinical outcomes. This means creating uniform discharge order sets and medication protocols that all providers follow, ensuring patients receive the same high-quality care regardless of who they see. What are the top problems that you’re seeing on your clinic in an everyday basis? And what are the usual most up-to-date, evidence-based advice pieces that we can give for those conditions?
2. Develop and Document Policies and Procedures
Policies and procedures might seem tedious, but they are crucial for preventing problems before they occur. They ensure everyone is on the same page and know what to do in various situations. This expands beyond the big stuff like HIPPA or release of information — in a clinical organization, that can also trickle down to how we care for patients. For example, do you need to care for them in a specific way related to quality measures that you’re trying to prove? Do you need to document in a specific way because you have specific payer requirements or regulatory requirements? Two ways to focus on that include:
- Standing orders: Use standing orders to standardize tasks that should be done the same way on every visit. For example, having a standing order for collecting urine samples during patient intake — including who will capture it, pick it up, run it, chart it, etc. — can streamline the process and ensure consistency.
- Roles and responsibilities: Clearly defined roles and responsibilities ensure that everyone works to the top of their license and maximizes efficiency. This involves understanding state regulations and the specific skills of your staff, ensuring tasks are delegated appropriately. Policies and procedures can also document where users should go for help with the system. Is it a superuser? Is there one at every location? Is there a help desk or even a shared drive that someone should go to? Clearly defined and understood expectations at every role in the clinic, including how to get help, can prevent bottlenecks and confusion on the day-to-day.
Learn more about reducing bottlenecks in our blog How to Assess Urgent Care Workflow for Bottlenecks >>
3. Utilize Training Resources
Training is vital for ensuring that your staff can use the EMR system effectively. Here are some tips:
- Leverage available resources: Use the training resources available within your EMR system. For example, Experity offers a knowledge base with training materials and release notes. These resources can help staff stay updated on new features and best practices.
- Role-based training: Provide role-based training to new staff members to help them get up to speed quickly. This means offering specific training modules for different roles, such as nurses, medical assistants, and administrative staff, ensuring they understand how to use the system effectively in their specific duties.
4. Maximize Charting Template Functionality
Charting templates can significantly improve efficiency by streamlining documentation. Here’s how to make the most of them:
- Chief complaints: Ensure that triage staff select chief complaints that have associated templates. This can save time for providers and improve documentation accuracy. For instance, if a patient presents with a common complaint like a sore throat, having a pre-configured template can expedite the documentation process.
- Regular reviews: Run reports regularly to understand the types of diagnoses and complaints you are seeing. Use this information to train staff and optimize template usage. Regularly reviewing these reports can help identify trends and areas for improvement.
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5. Maintain Your EMR System
Regular maintenance of your EMR system is crucial for ensuring it meets your practice’s needs. Focus on the following areas:
- Lab maintenance: Ensure that lab screens are set up correctly for in-house, outside, and integrated labs. This involves regularly updating lab test menus and ensuring that all lab interfaces are functioning correctly.
- Assessment and plans: Create standardized assessment and plan notes to ensure consistency across providers. This can include templates for common conditions, ensuring that all providers follow the same evidence-based guidelines.
6. Enhance the Patient Experience
Improving the patient experience is essential for patient satisfaction and retention. Here are some strategies:
- Standing orders for preventive services: Use standing orders to offer preventive services, such as flu shots, during patient visits. This shows patients that you care about their overall health and convenience. For example, offering flu shots to patients who come in for unrelated issues can improve vaccination rates and patient satisfaction. In addition to promoting efficiency, standing orders also let patients know that you care. It’s a huge patient satisfier because it says, I care about your health, I care about your schedule, and I care about how busy you are. And since you’re here, let’s take care of everything we can take care of for you.
- Automate front desk duties: Even if you’re not using a patient engagement tool to streamline preregistration and reduce wait time, Experity’s PM has Real Time Eligibility insurance verification, credit card on file, text balance reminders, and more to help keep front desk staff on track.
Learn more about retaining patients by addressing specific pain points in the patient journey. Download our eBook How to Win Patients Over for Increased Retention >>
By implementing these best practices, you can overcome workflow and charting challenges in your urgent care practice. Not all EMRs are purpose-built for urgent care, so you may not have access to all the features mentioned in this article. If you’d like to learn more about Experity’s EMR/PM, visit our product page.
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