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As a physician in a small private practice, I was incredibly intrigued to read this article and even shared it with my office staff as something for us to consider. However, while I can see the efficiencies of this system, there are also a lot of practical issues we were asking ourselves that I didn’t see in the article or the supplements.
Two questions I had for the authors included:
1) Is every exam room set up with identical equipment and the ability to get vitals in every room? In our office, to help mitigate costs, we have essentially two “vitals” hubs. We also have different exam tables in various rooms. Some of our rooms have simple PT-style exam room tables where we would not be able to do pap smears, for example. If patients need a procedure, we have a specific procedure room. How do your offices deal with those logistical issues of particular rooms for specific visits? Can the Medical Assistants do vitals in every room except for weight?
2) When we first built our office, we had doors without locks from the waiting room back to the exam rooms. After a gunman killed a urology colleague and friend in his office, we brought in a safety expert. One of the first things we did was to install locks on those doors. As a result, our staff has to get up from their desks to open the doors to let patients back. Do your offices have a buzzer/security system to allow patients back?
Again, thank you for this very thought-provoking manuscript!