The hospital’s IT Help Desk now offers a special line to help physicians and nurses resolve their computer issues quickly.

"Now [starting Mar. 15] when you call the Help Desk at (650) 723-3333, press "1” to select the "physician only" option. This will provide service more personally tailored for the unique needs of physicians," explained Mark Eimer, senior infrastructure manager for SHC IT.

Service representatives who answer have been instructed to resolve the issue within five minutes. If the issue is complex - or if the physician wants to get off the phone before five minutes have elapsed - a team member will call back at a prearranged time, Eimer said.

"We know spending a long time on the telephone for resolving computer problems with the Help Desk creates dissatisfaction with IT service and keeps you from patient care. All physicians are now 'flagged' in the customer records for the Help Desk so the staff can serve you better," Eimer said.

"To avoid disrupting you via telephone, IT is obtaining access to Smartpage to enable Help Desk follow-up information to be sent directly to pagers. Additionally, a message can be sent to your email that validates the completion of your request, documents what was done to solve the issue and ensures you agree that the work is complete. We will keep you informed of this progress, via your departmental channels,” the IT manager said.

IT leaders meet regularly with physician advisory team, including Kevin Tabb, chief quality/medical information officer, Topher Sharp, Andy Shelton and Richard Whyte to provide and receive feedback about what is important to improve access and service for information technology — in clinical areas or offices.

For comments, contact ITFeedback@stanfordmed.org.