Internists Use EHR Software to Improve Patient Care
Doctors of internal medicine often take on the role of primary care providers for adults who are at risk for developing diseases, as well as for patients already suffering from a particular ailment. Seeing as internists must help patients manage their diseases and take steps to prevent others from occurring, it is important for these doctors to have useful tools at their disposal, such as internal medicine EHR.
Two major facets of internal medicine include disease prevention and disease management, each playing an equally important role in patients’ health outcomes. Practicing preventive care is particularly important for patients who are susceptible to diseases that can be spotted early on and even prevented from occurring.
Take diabetes, for example. Using screening tools and questionnaires included in their EMR, physicians can examine certain factors to determine whether a patient is more likely to develop the disease than the average person. These factors can include:
- Race
- Weight
- Blood sugar level
- Dietary habits
- Family history of diabetes
If the internist determines that a patient is at risk for developing diabetes, the patient can be counseled regarding appropriate preventive care measures and pointed in the direct of the physician’s online patient portal for educational resources. The physician can also set reminders in the EMR to ensure that the patient is showing up for routine appointments.
For cases where prevention efforts were unsuccessful – or where a disease was not caught early on – internal medicine EHR software also helps. For example, internists can use decision support tools to help determine a plan of action for how to proceed with treating and managing the patient’s disease.
Interested in learning more about the EHR features available to doctors of internal medicine? Contact us online or call 480-782-1116 to speak with one of our representatives.