Five Questions with EPOWERdoc's Keith Lastrapes
At EPOWERdoc, we relish our role in streamlining the management of patient information in the Emergency Department. Each day, our team works to make EPOWERdoc tools easy to use and effective in making emergency care more efficient.
We couldn't do this without a dedicated team. To help you get to know these staff members a little bit better, we periodically offer you our "Five Questions" series. This post is a conversation with Keith Lastrapes, Project Manager.
EPOWERdoc: How did you get into health IT and how long have you worked at EPOWERdoc?
Keith: I first became involved with healthcare IT while completing my master’s degree in Healthcare Administration. I was in the US Navy at the time and was fortunate enough to be intricately involved with the Department of Defense’s implementation of TRICARE. My role involved the implementation of an electronic referral system which ultimately was deployed DoD-wide. This role allowed me to integrate my clinical skills with my newfound skill set of IT knowledge and intricately involve process evaluation and improvement. I have been with EPD for about 5 years.
E: What is your main area of responsibility at EPOWERdoc?
K: I am a clinical project manager, responsible of the successful implementation of EPD into the facility. This responsibility includes client process evaluation, program customization, staff education and finally full implementation of the program into the client’s emergency department. Following implementation, I follow-up with the client to work through the “fine tuning” of the program and processes before passing the client’s day-to-day management to an EPD accounts manager.
E: What makes EPOWERdoc and its suite of solutions different/better/unique in a crowded marketplace?
K: EPOWERdoc is uniquely suited for today’s crowded market primarily because of its flexibility, responsiveness and superior customer service. EPD has the capability and reliability to function/operate superiorly across all size facilities. As a small company, we are able to make adjustments at a much faster pace than larger companies WITHOUT sacrificing quality and dependability. Our clients have immediate and direct contact to us and we establish close relationships with them, many times becoming good friends. We treat our clients like family, the good family, and we display a sincere concern and interest in resolving an issues that may present quickly, competently and professionally. It’s pride that drives us.
E: What is the most rewarding aspect of your job?
K: This one is easy... it’s the professionals I work with! I have the privilege of working with some of the most outstanding people in the world. We work hard, but we play hard. We disagree without being argumentative, we all have equal input, maybe not the final word, but we have input. I also enjoy seeing an organization come through the stress of pre-implementation through full implementation and watching them soar. Finally, I enjoy the relationships I establish through the entire process. Some of these folks have become true friends, not clients any longer.
E: What excites you most about the future of health IT?
K: True “integration” of the healthcare spectrum and not this current “piece-meal” development/implementation so that we can utilize the information gathered and stored and implement positive changes throughout the world for overall improvement of quality of life.
About EPOWERdoc
EPOWERdoc is a leader in computerized Emergency Department Information Systems (EDIS), using a design team comprised of emergency physicians and nurses. Additionally, EPOWERdoc provides superior medical content for other vendor EMR builds. As it was from the beginning, the EPOWERdoc mission is centered around excellence, integrity and service. Every employee is committed to going above and beyond in meeting the needs of the client, while focusing on the specialized needs of the physicians, nurses and hospitals they serve.
To learn more about EPOWERdoc solutions, call 515.965.8040 or email jporter@epowerdoc.com.