They say to save the best for last. Yet, my degree and expertise in procrastination has led me down a never-ending road that misses every exit containing a full Sunday night's sleep. Since I've learned to improve the speed and submission of my home health notes, watching Dallas Cowboys football on weekends has not been as stressful as it used to be. I am able to relax and have an improved work-life balance without the constant voice in the back of my head heckling me about my note delivery duties.
The introduction and complexity of several electronic medical record (EMR) or electronic health record (EHR) software companies have many clinicians reminiscing on the good ol' days of handwritten notes. But during my clinicals, I remember seeing the stack of charts that seemed so daunting and nerve-wracking. To choose between carpal tunnel or de Quervain syndrome, I'd take the latter. Although EMRs have their flaws, WebPT states the many benefits such as fewer errors, maximum reimbursements, and document accessibility. My co-workers advised early into my career to bypass challenges in digitized charting by working on point-of-care documentation for faster delivery, focusing on quality over quantity, refining communication with other healthcare professional, and the most important of them all… the “keep it simple” rule.
I've often heard or read the advice given on forums and social media about reviewing colleague's notes and discussing their tips and methods for documenting. But not everyone is fortunate to have someone they can look up to or talk to. We can all use a helping hand, especially in these times when healthcare guidelines continue to evolve but reimbursements remain stagnant.
I attribute my latest boost in motivation to improve documentation on a podcast episode at #GERIonIce. The documentation episodes and discussions showed me how simple tricks and tips can go a long way. I wanted to do something similar and add my own touch on the road towards improving healthcare communication.
During the initial year of the covid pandemic, I began self-teaching computer programming. I was attempting to automate my workflow in some way, but my first program wasn't going to be useful on a larger scale. It ran on a Linux-like shell script that was set up on a very personalized environment. Reading these techie words can make it sound complicated, but after a few months of improving, tweaking, and learning new tools, I wondered if others would find a snippets web app useful. And I sure hope you do because my goal is to help everyone push through the most dreadful part of our jobs.
Although working in home health has it’s benefits, such as having a flexible schedule, we understand the trade-off means spending more time behind the desk clacking on our keyboards.
I hope to aid you in the speed-up and completion of high-quality notes, as others have helped me. I also wish for docuSnippets to be utilized by different disciplines in all types of settings. I have a roadmap with plans and tools I would like to implement that I'm excited to share with you soon.