 Provided by Clinician 1
Anyone following my blogs may have picked up that we are now “hospital-owned” as of January 1st. I, for one, am very glad that the buy-out took place. If for nothing else, NOT having to pay out over $950 per MONTH for health insurance is a very nice benefit. The additional perks of having a 403B plan, flexible spending, more vacation (uh, excuse me, PTO time), etc...well, let’s just say that I’m not complaining about it. I really, REALLY liked my last paycheck, because more of it actually showed up in my personal bank account.
So, it is with this in mind, that I also have to be honest. Change. Is. Hard.
I’m not talking about dealing with more bureaucracy. Eh. I’m used to that. HELLO? Can you say, “insurance companies?”
It’s the every day, um...seemingly “little things.” Like, not being able to look at my daily schedule while I’m working.
What...?!
Yeah, that’s right. We have a different EMR than the hospital, so our patient schedule is on the hospital system...and our patient charts/notes are on OUR system. My collaborating doc and I have to be “cleared” by certain powers-that-be to be able to VIEW our daily schedule on the hospital system. Apparently, never-the-two shall meet...at least, in this lifetime.
So, my ever-faithful, wonderful MA prints out our schedules (because, you see, somehow, SHE has access to it, having been allowed to attend three day-long orientation sessions), and hands it to me twice a day. I spend the rest of the time, in-between patients, looking at the computers in the office, running behind, breathlessly exclaiming, “how far behind am I NOW?”
You see, BEFORE the take-over, I could have accessed that little piece of information while in a patient room. Click, voila, DONE. (Insert mental gasp here...OK, Kim, stay on track with current exam, finish it...get DONE with the visit.) And away we go.
I would have done this PRIOR to January. Now, it’s a free-for-all. My left hand isn’t always sure what the right one is doing...and I don’t really like it.
I know that things will settle down. I can usually laugh at the whole process, long after patient hours, long after my charting is finished, when I’m finished for the day and grab a precious few hours of sleep.
Because, did you know? Now I also get to count RVUs in my daily stressors. Meet the RVU per-requisite (whatever THAT is), or...ELSE. And one other nifty little fact...a “level 3” visit counts LESS than 1 full RVU.
And that will be the topic for another blog...someday.
 Kim Spering is a family nurse practitioner who currently works at Brndjar Medical Associates, P.C., a family practice in Emmaus, PA. Her past experience includes the fields of medical/surgical ICU, open heart/trauma ICU, labor and delivery, nursing education, nursing supervision, and as a nurse practitioner in both family practice and OB/GYN settings. She currently serves as a NP preceptor for her graduate school alma mater, DeSales University, as well as for local baccalaureate programs. She is passionate about patient education and helping patients understand that they are ultimately responsible for their own health. She also firmly believes that the public needs to be educated on the value of NPs and PAs in meeting the health care needs of the next decade and beyond. In her free time, Kim enjoys family vacations with her optometrist husband, Mark, and her two sons, Matthew and Connor.
The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.
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