The Lewis & Clark Community Counseling Center, which is part of the practicum portion of the Lewis & Clark Graduate School of Education and Counseling, recently purchased an electronic health record system called Theranest.
The new system comes after the center was forced to switch to telehealth in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus far, graduate students have used non-integrated digital systems to schedule appointments, keep records and communicate with supervisors. According to the center’s director, Justin Henderson, they hope to start using Theranest in November.
Prior to the start of the pandemic, counselors in training relied solely on paper files.
“Previously, everything was completely on paper,” said Claire Tam ’22, a graduate assistant. “Clients would pay for their sessions, either with cash or check — they couldn’t even pay with a card. That’s how paper file it was.”
According to Henderson, this change was overdue.
“It’s a tried and true method, so I don’t want to dismiss (paper filing) entirely, but in order to prepare our students for the field — they’re not going to encounter paper files anymore,” Henderson said. “That’s just not a reality of our work and hasn’t been a reality for quite some time.”
Henderson said he recognizes that the switch to an integrated system did take a long time, however the uncertainties of the pandemic proved challenging. They are now also dealing with a hefty onboarding process of digitizing seven years of client records.
“We were in survival mode, quite frankly,” Henderson said. “To a certain extent, we have a kind of hodgepodge electronic record system presently, but it’s not an integrated, singular system … We did transition to that, but it was in the space of haste and disorganization because of the pandemic.”
Graduate assistant Lauren Radakovich ’22 started her practicum during the pandemic, and appreciates how the clinic has tackled the sudden switch.
“I think the system we use now, and that we’re transitioning out of with the new health record system; it’s not ideal,” Radakovich said. “It was a temporary option, doing the best that the clinic could at the time to make everything streamlined and get our clients the best care possible.”
Clinic counselors and supervisors are excited for the added features Theranest will bring. First of all, everything will be in one place which streamlines the process and leaves less room for error. Additionally, the program has a secure in-chat feature which is a significant improvement from email, which forced students and counselors to use coded language since it is not a secure medium.
Henderson is particularly excited about Theranest .
“We serve several hundred clients per week,” Henderson said. “There’s no way for administrative staff to contact that many clients and remind them that they have an appointment, but this system will automatically email, and they do have a text feature if (clients) choose that as well.”
The clinic will also continue using telehealth for the foreseeable future. They are currently working with Information Technology (IT) to put desktop computers in every room, preparing for practicum students to offer telehealth onsite. However, when this transition will take place is uncertain.
Radakovich visited the clinic this summer and anticipates providing counseling from the location.
“I didn’t really know what we were missing because I started in my home and we were all online, so I would only see my little supervision group on the screen,” Radakovich said. “I didn’t realize that was definitely not the same experience as if we had been in person, until I actually went into the clinic.”
According to Tam, there are a lot of benefits to providing telehealth services. They pointed to higher attendance rates, which likely have to do with overcoming in-person obstacles such as infrequent public transportation to the clinic and the busy lives of clients. However, one major drawback Tam identified was that they could not provide out-of-state services, even for people who only live 10-15 minutes away in Washington.
“Before they could come in person to our building and have services, but on telehealth they technically can’t,” Tam said. “That unfortunately cuts off quite a few people that might need low- to no-cost counseling that cannot be seen right now.”
It will be a long process before both counselors in training and clients can meet in the same room again. There is not an established timeline for the transition. In the meantime, however, Henderson looks forward to the new capabilities of Theranest.
“I overall think that this is going to help us be able to offer students a better training experience,” Henderson said. “I think administratively it’s gonna allow us to more efficiently be able to work new clients into our system as well.”
Illustration by Maya Williamson
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