Thad Schilling, MD, and Caroline, Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates

These were the words of Caroline, who’s Thad Schilling, MD’s, Medical Assistant at Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates‘ Medford Medical Office. She was commenting on the fact that Thad uses a whiteboard when he teaches patients about their health. This has the impact of involving his team in understanding the patient’s condition as they support the care.

Yesterday, Joshua Seidman and myself shadowed practices at the Medford office (Dr. Schilling) and at the Kenmore office (Dr. Kate Koplan). We went to see what was happening at Harvard Vanguard because they have an established PHR, MyHealth Online, that’s produced by a very respected EHR manufacturer. I was interested in MyHealth Online because it’s a system very similar to the one that Group Health produced for its members in Seattle. However, patient adoption of this system has not been at the levels of Group Health. I wanted to get some insights on the issues at the exam room level.

This was also Josh’s first time shadowing in a medical center, as part of this project at least, so it will be good to read about his perspectives doing this along side me. Consent was obtained from each patient of course, and it actually worked out well to have us alternate shadowing experience. Thad had a relatively busy schedule and he has experience with people learning from his practice, so Caroline and his stewardship worked out really well.

First some pictures, and then the rest of the story:

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