Physicians have found that simple purchases have improved their practices.
Some make patient waiting time more pleasant. Others are designed for the purpose of making the employee day more pleasant. Still others are for the benefit of increasing the efficiency of physicians and their assistants. With the exception of Electronic Health Record (EHR) software, all are fairly inexpensive.
No matter what the cost, physicians report they are well-worth the investment.
- Adding an aquarium to the waiting room: Children and adults both like watching the behavior of active fish. Observing fish in a tank also seems to have a calming, soothing effect in addition to being a great distraction and makes time pass faster, decreasing frustration that comes with waiting to be seen by the doctor.
- Single-serving coffee-maker for employees: Employees generally drink a lot of coffee throughout the day. Even so, pots of brewed coffee go stale and much of it is poured down the drain in order to make a fresh pot. A single-serving coffee maker avoids waste and satisfies the need for fresh coffee with the extra benefit of saving on the weekly purchase of coffee to brew.
- A document scanner for the office: With the move to EHR, scanning documents directly into the computer instead of requiring them to be manually entered reduces chances of error. The paper file does not need to be kept in the office since everything is stored on the computer. Actual physical space formerly used for file cabinets is saved.
- Speech recognition software program for the physicians: Some physicians find speech recognition programs work well and eliminate the need to pay medical transcription personnel. Some edits are required, but the doctors can make the edits themselves.
- Investing in a Real Time Location System (RTLS): These are battery-operated devices that attach to objects. Employees can carry them in their pocket or pin them on their clothes. This allows the objects or people to always be located with a Wi-Fi system that operates similar to a GPS. The system can increase the efficiency of a medical practice and save time on locating a machine, like a portable x-ray or EKG machine, as well as locating personnel when they are needed.
- Pediatricians invest in a lactation scale to use for babies of breast-feeding mothers: When there are concerns that a baby may not be getting enough nutrition, the baby is weighed on a lactation scale before and after breast-feeding to determine how much milk the baby consumed. A care plan can then be developed if necessary to meet the nutrition needs of the baby.
- EHR software: This software keeps all medical diagnoses, test results, status updates, medications, consultations and evaluations in one safe place that is accessible from any device. Physicians can check on a patient from home, hospital or the office. It saves time and increases the quality of patient care.
Before making any purchase, consider it carefully and read online reviews of the product or service if they are available. And remember, people will ultimately come to you because you’re a good doctor – not because you have the coolest aquarium.
