August 1, 2017 | Allen Van Driel, CEO
Smith County Memorial Hospital and Smith County Family Practice are excited that Leah Wiehl, M.D. will join our staff later this month. Many of you know that Dr. Wiehl (formerly Kuhlmann) grew up in Kensington. After receiving a Bachelor’s degree from Kansas State University, she completed medical school at the University of Kansas Medical Center. She them completed a residency program in Family Medicine in North Carolina before returning to the Kansas City area to complete a Fellowship in Obstetrics in preparation for rural practice. With all of that training behind her, she now returns to her roots to practice in the clinic. Interestingly enough, her practice will begin in the same clinic where she was mentored by Dr. Ferrill Conant while in high school.
A number of years ago, Smith County Family Practice initiated an early morning walk-in clinic, which was dubbed Quick Care. Under this model, one or two of the providers in the clinic would see patients who presented between 8:00 and 9:00 A.M. every weekday. The Quick Care concept has been popular, although it has some limitations. It allows quick access to a medical provider (hence the name “Quick Care”), but the patient has no control over which provider they will see on any given day. On the flip side of that issue, the providers staffing Quick Care may not be completely familiar with the patient’s past medical history. However, because it is provided within our clinic, they do have access to the patient’s medical record. It’s just that it might take a while to review the record if the patient’s presenting condition is something other than a very minor issue (sore throat, upper respiratory infection, suspected urinary tract infection, sprained ankles, etc.).
Across the country, there has been a tremendous growth in recent years of freestanding Urgent Care facilities. In these facilities, licensed providers see patients on a no-appointment, walk-in basis. This is a concept that has proven popular for patients with minor illnesses and injuries. Most Urgent Care facilities are limited in the types of diagnostic services they can offer, and since they are not intended to be primary care practices, they usually will have no previous medical history, including medication lists, for patients who present. They also are limited in their ability to provide full scope of care for serious illnesses, such as chest pain, strokes, etc. Patients presenting with these types of conditions are usually transferred to the nearest Emergency Department for care.
Beginning in August, Smith County Family Practice will change the way appointments are scheduled to better accommodate our patients. Quick Care will remain available from 8:00 to 9:00 each day. Instead of only one or two providers, though, most of the SCFP providers will staff Quick Care each day. This will allow quicker processing of patients, although patients will still not have total choice of provider when presenting for Quick Care. In addition, though, each provider working in the Clinic will have a limited number of appointment slots at various times of the day available for same-day appointments. These appointment slots will allow patients who want to be seen by their primary care provider (as opposed to whichever provider may be available) to call the clinic and request an appointment with their PCP. If the requested provider has an open slot that day, the patient will be offered that appointment time. The patient won’t have to sit for hours waiting for the chance to see the provider, but will have a designated appointment time. If a patient calls the clinic for an appointment with a particular provider, and that provider either isn’t working on that day or has no open appointment slots available, the patient will be offered the choice of being seen by another provider who may have an open appointment slot that day, or of scheduling an appointment for the following day. This new process will provide a better chance of patients being able to see the provider of their choice, without having to wait a long time for an appointment. There are certain types of appointments, however, that will not be assigned to the same-day time slots. Physicals, whether for employment, DOT, routine annual exams, or well-child checks, will be scheduled separately from either Quick Care or the same day appointments. These appointments typically take longer than regular clinic visits, and need to be scheduled accordingly.
With the addition of Dr. Wiehl to our staff, we spent some time discussing ways to better serve our patient population at the SCFP clinic. We hope that the changes to Quick Care and the same day appointment scheduling will be a step towards that goal. Please call the Clinic at 785-282-6834 to schedule an appointment. And let us know how you think the new processes are working.