This blog post is the first in a short series of Lantana’s experience in getting out of the office and into the field.

As a fully distributed company, Lantana staff work individually from our respective home offices. During a normal business day, we interact virtually with clients and team members. But occasionally, we get out of the virtual office and meet face to face with clients, provide education/training, and support various other aspects of our business. This is what we refer to as going out in the field.

So, what do we mean by “field”? The English Oxford dictionary defines field as “carried out or working in the natural environment” and “a place where a subject can be observed in its natural location or context”.

Recently a team of Lantana clinical analysts had the opportunity to go out in the field. As part of a national field test related to electronic reporting from clinical systems, our team was instrumental in providing hands-on training through site visits, collecting and assessing data on approximately 150 data elements, conducting focus groups, and providing feedback to the client. Due to client confidentiality, we cannot disclose anything we studied and learned, but would like to share some personal insight we acquired through this experience.

Lessons Learned

Being in the field gave the team a unique perspective into how changes in regulatory mandates impact the day to day care being provided and the challenges healthcare providers face with policy/program changes. One of the biggest takeaways was that there is no such thing as a simple change and that there are always unexpected consequences that need to be addressed.

Having a Field Day

The team faced some challenges of their own while on the road.

In addition to meeting with healthcare providers, the team discovered new and unique areas of their state they had never been to before.