A team of seven students spent the past two semesters developing recommendations for Lehigh Valley Hospital Physicians Group on how to improve the experience of patients at doctors’ offices. The group serves about 366,000 patients.
The team includes Catriona Mhairi Duncanson ’03, A.B. engineering major; Michael Avicolli ”03, International Affairs; Zachary Bittner ’03, specialized major in environmental literary analysis; Sam Toma ’04, economics and business; Stacy Alboher ’04, economics and business; Kate McGovern ’03, English; and Joseph Hamill ’03, mechanical engineering.
“I found it interesting to work with people from different majors,” says McGovern. “It’s not often that I’m exposed to someone who thinks from an engineering viewpoint, which is more scientific than mine since I’m an English major.”
The students’ research included shadowing doctors and interviewing physicians, patients, office staff, and alternative practitioners to analyze styles of care and determine why patients often feel more anxious or nervous after seeing a physician than they do after visiting other health professionals.
“The entire system of insurance providers, HMOs, and lawyers becoming increasingly involved with patient care has led physicians to see health-care as more of a business, and their patients as customers. With every move placed under a microscope and having the potential to be second-guessed, doctors have more external pressure placed upon them than in time past,” notes the team’s report.
The students cited three elements associated with many other health professionals that are absent from doctor’s offices: laying on of hands, the practitioner and patient working together, and immediate physical improvement. A visit to the physician seldom combines diagnosis and therapy.
The report also discusses information sharing and the setup and use of a Geographical Information Systems database tracking the concentrations of certain diseases in the Lehigh Valley and other factors.
Advisers are Dan Bauer, professor of anthropology and sociology, and Larry Malinconico, professor of geology.