EYE CARE CONSULTANTS OD/MD
An Expanding OD/MD Practice
We are a long time—22 year-plus—user of the KelKom workflow communication system because the EMR products we looked at and selected are far too cumbersome to be considered in the same thought for our practice owners.
We started with an ophthalmology practice of 2 MDs and 2 optometrists as an optometric referral center offering medical and surgical assistance to the surrounding Tristate area in Southwest Indiana. We began our business with 4 exam rooms, a minor surgery suite, tech area, large workup area, and 3 doctor offices, totaling roughly 2400 square feet.
Several years after we expanded to 8 exam rooms, to include an attached Ambulatory Surgery Center. In both our initial and expanded setups, we required efficient communications to staff and doctors on where to be and to maintain order while moving our patients through a high-volume practice. Finding a tech quickly to initiate further testing, or requesting assistance was a must. We looked at many systems, and none could compare with the simple and efficient design of the KelKom system. Over the years, we have looked at other, newer systems, and none could match the sleekness, power, and efficient way the KelKom system works.
Why We Chose KelKom
Initially, we chose the KelKom system, but when offered similar abilities within our newly acquired EMR program, we were excited to see how they compared. While the EMR has all sorts of bells and whistles, and can create all sorts of arrays of patients waiting in different areas, we found the KelKom simpler, more efficient to use and communicate, and far superior to anything else we have seen. The EMR system bogged down the computer tasking, requiring a receptionist to login a patient and mark them as having arrived, then a tech marking them as ready, and finally the doctor logging in and out to track the patient... all very cumbersome and inefficient.
Flag and other lighting systems fall short what the KelKom communication and tracking system can do in one package. We have 18 staff made up of RNs, techs, receptionists, and doctors. To find a particular tech who is free to help, simply page a tech to a room or the attached phone/intercom and it takes only seconds to get a response. If a particular staff member or doctor is needed, page that person again with only a simple lighted command of, “Page Doc 3 to the phone,” or to, “Room 8.” The page goes throughout the clinic and surgery center and that doctor picks up the phone and answers or goes to that room. Without this system, we would have to waste time walking about trying to find the tech who worked up a particular patient or seek out another doctor to ask an opinion, etc.