SMARTDRAW IN LEGAL NURSING:

Creating Medical Flowcharts with SmartDraw

The Symptoms
Running a legal nurse consulting business is no easy task. Just ask Kathy Clark, President and Owner of ETC. Clark is responsible for reviewing, summarizing, and analyzing medical records, assessing issues of damage and causation, and developing medical chronologies and other documents.

She also consults with acute care hospitals in their preparatory work for accreditation and compliance surveys.

"I was looking for a way to draw an extensive and complicated flowchart for an acute care hospital I was consulting with," she said.

Clark had previously used Visio^®, but was looking for something easier.

She searched the Internet for a flowcharting program, and found SmartDraw's free trial.

The Remedy
Even though she'd never used SmartDraw before, Clark was creating flowcharts in less than an hour.

"SmartDraw was extremely easy to use," she said. "I didn't even really need the tutorials, because the product was so self-explanatory."

SmartDraw's intuitive interface allowed Clark to select the symbols she needed from built-in libraries, and simply drag-and-drop them onto her page. Should she need extra help, the SmartDraw Flowchart Wizard walks users through the process of creating a flowchart, every step of the way.

Clark learned that SmartDraw requires no artistic talent on the part of the user. SmartDraw automatically aligns all the symbols, and even helps the user apply styles.

"I am especially happy with the ability to use color on my flowcharts," said Clark.

Using SmartDraw, Clark was able to create a complicated flowchart illustrating an important hospital process.

"SmartDraw allowed me to create an extensive, multi-paged flowchart, following the process of a patient through the Emergency Department, demonstrating all the key decision points the patient undergoes," she said.

Perfect Health
Clark continues to use SmartDraw several times a month with much success. Her SmartDraw flowcharts have even won her recognition from clients.

"My client told me she was extremely pleased with the flowchart, and that it would be used in the Quality Improvement Committee," said Clark.

Clark is so happy with SmartDraw, she plans on using it for many future projects.

"I'll use SmartDraw for project management and timelines for every legal case I initiate," said Clark. "I've even been recommending SmartDraw to other legal nurse consultants."

The bottom line?

"I was relieved to find such an easy flowcharting program," she said. "My time is valuable. With SmartDraw, I can create flowcharts in ½ the time!"