Patient Charts.

Feb. 27, 2010

Today was a day of organizing patient charts. All the charts within the cabinets were vey disorganized and thrown around out of order. It was hard, almost impossible, to find a patient chart when the patient came into the Clinic. Because we have a new medical clinic directer, the desire to update the clinic with the latest form of filing and storage was the immediate task at hand. The task for patient charts is not a one day task, but will take up to several weeks to complete. It includes removing all the charts, start with the beginning of the alphabet. There are three options for what one can do with the charts: 1) if it's dated 2007 or earlier, the charts get moved to a box that will be alphabetized and sent off to permanent storage. 2) if there is no date found on the chart - we never realized how hard it was for someone to date their paper - the chart is moved to a second box so the patient can be looked up on the electronic record for the last visit date. 3) if there is a date found from 2008 and on, then the charts are given a sticker indicating the year of first visit and their names are rewritten in all caps, then put back onto the cabinet, in alphabetical order of course. Doesn't seem like a very difficult task. Though it's not a difficult process, it's very time consuming. The two hours spent at the clinic this past Friday was not even enough to get us through the B's. There are so many patients that come into the clinic that they have accumulated numerous amounts of patient charts. It was great to see the transformation of charts, even though it was only the A's and half of the B's. It's amazing what organization and cleanliness does to an office space.

I suppose we'll be spending quite a bit of time on these charts for the following weeks, but maybe one day, she'll surprise us with another task, such as storage cleaning, or case management filing. But, until then, it looks as though these charts need quite a bit of work. The reward of knowing the doctors will have easier access to their patient charts is a great accomplishment in itself.


"People often resist change for reasons that make good sense to them, even it those reasons don't correspond to organizational goals. So it is crucial to recognize, reward, and celebrate accomplishments."
- Rosabeth Moss Kanter.


Until next time,


- Cristina.