Scharmaine Lawson-Baker - Holistic Care in the Eye of a Storm

Q – Why did you become a nurse? Was it something you wanted form an early age, or did the choice come later?
Scharmaine: The decision to become a nurse came to me after taking a nursing assistant course in high school. I took the course because I wanted to know more about the profession and felt like a nursing assistant position would give me a bird’s eye view on how to be a nurse. It was one of the best decisions I made in relation to my nursing profession. I entered the BSN program at Dillard University shortly after graduating from high school.
Q – Tell us about your journey to running a House Call Practice, how did you begin, and how did you get to where you are now? What are you future plans for Advanced Clinical Consultants?
Scharmaine: My Housecall practice was started after a local physician asked me to care for her patients while she took a “break” for some medical treatments. I turned the initial 15 Housecall patients into 100 within three months. This was unbelievable and very exciting for me especially since I had just opened my practice. I realized that I discovered a niche in healthcare and it just happened to be something that I enjoyed. After Hurricane KATRINA, due to the lack of healthcare providers, etc. the practice just kept growing and growing. To date, we have over 1200 homebound patients on the roster. The future of Advanced Clinical Consultants is very promising as I continue to diversify my services and procedures. We are now offering clinic services such as: PAP Smears, Lap Band Fills (Fill Center USA), Pelvic Floor Rehab with Biofeedback for urinary and fecal incontinence, and Steroid Joint Injections. A few of the aforementioned therapies were added because most of my elderly patients were requesting joint injections for arthritis and struggling with incontinence issues.
Q – Throughout your story, Holistic Care in the Eye of a Storm, you seem to credit technology with your ability to provide quality care to your patients. Would you say this is a fair assessment? What new devices are you using now in your practice?
Scharmaine: Yes, technology is a major advancement for my company. It has really made my charting and prescribing more efficient. Plus, it is the “green” thing to do. Aside from e-prescribing and laboratory interfacing into our charting system, we have decided to go with a web-based EMR. On December 7th of this year, we will be going “live” with eClinicalWorks. It is a much more robust system for our practice. I struggled with changing from our current system, but in the end decided that the capability of having my medical notes available 24-7 is a major advantage especially when you live in “flood-prone” areas. Last, I have also started videotaping several patient experiences to be featured on the non-profit website. There are still so many unmet needs for certain communities and I feel the videos will give insight into some of the current lingering problems.
Q – Have you done other writing besides your story, Holistic Care in the Eye of a Storm? Do you have any further plans for story/article writing?
Scharmaine: I am a frequent writer for the ADVANCE for Nurse Practitioner magazine. I love writing and I look forward to writing a book one day about my KATRINA struggles and my overall rise from the inner city housing projects to successful CEO.
Q – What is next for Scharmaine?
Scharmaine: I am looking forward to finishing the video series and obtaining AANP (American Academy of Nurse Practitioner) CEU credits for the Housecall Residency Program. The Housecall Residency Program is a program that I designed for the many NP’s and NP students to visit New Orleans and “shadow” me while I perform Housecalls. It will be an intensive two-day experience that will equip and arm the practitioner/student with all the necessary knowledge to start and maintain a successful Housecall practice. I will also offer business pearls and other strategies for running a medical practice in a “down” economy. AANP credits are pending.