Clinician-Patient Face Time
Anne Meneghetti, MD
Director, Clinical Communications

A century ago, clinicians in rural America were on perpetual call—to deliver a baby, remove tonsils, treat syphilis—or even tend to ailing livestock in a pinch. Sure, there were administrative tasks. For example, one might enter into a ledger the fact that a chicken or a cord of firewood was received as payment for setting a fracture. Debts for many services were simply forgiven. Documentation was minimal. House calls made via horse and buggy may have culminated with the entire household gathered around the kitchen table sharing a meal or a drink. The rural doctor, midwife, and village apothecary were tightly woven into the fabric of the community.

Of all the hours you work in a week, how many of them are spent face-to-face with patients? Nearly half of a primary care physician’s work day is spent outside of the exam room, mostly on follow-up and documentation related to care of patients who are not physically there.¹ Patient face time is a smaller fraction of our work life, and we are a smaller part of our patients’ lives.

The desire to spend more quality time with patients has driven some clinicians to join larger practices that coordinate more of the infrastructure and administration for them. Many are considering technological solutions for decision support and aspects of practice management. Some clinicians even choose to do certain administrative tasks while still inside the exam room, just to squeeze in a few more minutes with patients.

Growing consumer access to live video connections may provide another way to extend face-to-face clinician-patient access beyond the exam room. Security concerns and health plan reimbursement issues still need to be worked out. In the near-term, whatever steps clinicians can take to preserve face time with patients is likely to pay off in terms of personal satisfaction.

Tell us how you maximize your time with patients. We would love to hear from you.

¹ Time Spent in Face-to-Face Patient Care and Work Outside the Examination Room. Ann Fam Med. 2005; 3(6): 488–493.

#1: Find a Tier 1 inhaled corticosteroid on my patient’s insurance plan.

• Step 1: Tap the “Drugs” icon.
• Step 2: Tap the “Asthma/Pulmonary” class.
• Step 3: Tap the “Corticosteroids, Inhaled” subclass.

Here, you can see the formulary status of each brand and generic product on the Formulary you have selected. From there, you can select any product for even more information.

#2: Find appropriate empiric treatment for epiglottitis in adults.*

• Step 1: Tap the “ID Tx Selector” icon.
• Step 2: Tap the “ENT” system.
• Step 3: Tap “Epiglottitis”.

Here, you can see appropriate empiric treatment and also have access to sections with specific treatment and additional information.

*Epocrates Rx Pro and Epocrates Essentials only

#3: Identify an unknown pill.

• Step 1: Tap the “Pill ID” icon.
• Step 2: Enter the imprint code from a single side of the pill (e.g., “u129”)
• Step 3: Tap the “View” button under the message about the number of matches found.

Here, you can see the pills that match the imprint codes and select the one that matches your unknown pill.