Today I met Shannon Clark at her Wake Nephrology office on Bush Street. It was a very relaxed business day in which I got to experience the business side of her nephrology practice. Mrs. Clark explained that in order for them to keep their practice private, they must have all of the stuff together and make sure that everyone on their team can succeed and is happy. They spent 6 long hours in a meeting discussing how best to divide nephrology/dialysis centers among the 16 women who work for them, in terms of the number of patients at each center. Mrs. Clark also explained to me that some times the patients and work shifts become uneven and then people get angry. She said that, for instance, a nurse practitioner had much fewer patients and went on vacation for more than the allotted 30 days a year and thus someone else had to cover the load that she was not covering.
Mrs. Clark also explained to me that one nurse practitioner practicing under another practice lied about giving medicines to a patient that never received them and told me that they mess up all the time because we are all human but they need to own up to their mistakes because, in her job, it has dangerous repercussions !
I got to speak with Lori, the desk manager, and she showed me the complex excel sheet that has all of the shifts for each person as well as the requested and then granted vacation days. She was very good at her job and could change things in the spreadsheet easily and efficiently.
Overall, today was uneventful but I learned how complex and tedious organizing a private practice is. I also learned that nurse practitioners do not see patients ever day.