Practice Fusion: low-duty but perfect for the small, non-profit clinic
January 10, 2019
Practice Fusion: low-duty but perfect for the small, non-profit clinic
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Practice Fusion
- PF provides a very intuitive interface that is very easy to learn, which is especially important in our clinic because as an academic teaching environment we are constantly onboarding new volunteers who need to use this software for the first time and need to learn to do so quickly.
- PF provides low prices for free or non-profit clinics, which is the main reason why we use it. As a free student-run community clinic, we would otherwise not be able to afford a good EMR.
- I especially like the interface for the patient schedule, which has a really easy way to record vitals and where the patient is (in the lobby, in a specific room, etc) that I like better than other EMRs I've used.
- One of the biggest frustrations is that PF only imports PDFs of lab results, but does nothing to allow manipulation of the numbers within these PDFs. I can pull up lab results but can't look at a graph, for example, of trends in serum sodium or hematocrit.
- Like EPIC, it would be nice to have an option like scrolling to all the "***"s using F2, which I always try to do on PF until I realize it does not work.
- I wish PF had more dot phrases to pull in things like lab results, etc., into the note. Since I cannot copy and paste lab results (which are stored in PDF) or blow them in with a dot phrase, I have to manually re-write them, which leaves our notes more vulnerable to human error. If this feature DOES exist, it isn't obvious to me or anyone in our clinic.
- It would be really nice to hear from PF support to see if we had any unmet needs in the clinic so that they could educate us on how to better use this EMR to support those needs.
The only other EMR I have used is EPIC. I worked as a scribe for PAMF, where I spent 50 hours a week in front of EPIC. I got to know it really well, and have used PF much less, so it is difficult to make a comparison. EPIC came with so many more options to view test results, visits to other health facilities, and past notes. It also had so many more ways you could format your notes, blow in data, and statistically analyze data. While EPIC is a much more comprehensive and well-supported EMR, it also would be too heavy and unnecessary for the small scale clinic work I do at a community clinic. I feel that each EMR has the environment they are well-suited for, and I am glad to be using PF now.