At the Eastside Hematology Oncology Clinic in Greenville, SC, patients are just as likely to have their blood samples drawn and analyzed by the clinic’s physician, , as they are to be examined by him. It’s all in a day’s work for Dr. Ravichander, who plays the triple role of doctor, laboratory director, and, on occasion, technologist, when he runs CBC (Complete Blood Count) tests to keep up with patient demand.
Juggling these multiple roles makes for a hectic work schedule, but Dr. Ravichander, known as “Dr. Ravi,” by his patients and staff, wouldn’t run his practice any other way. “Having a laboratory on site helps me attract and keep patients, who are happy that they don’t have to go some place else for their blood to be drawn and tested. And while overseeing the laboratory myself and even running some of the samples means a lot of extra work, it keeps me very involved in quality control issues.”
Dr. Ravichander’s passion for the laboratory side of medicine began after he graduated from medical school in Pondicherry, India and moved to the United Kingdom in 1985 for additional training. During his studies there, he developed an interest in both hematology and medical oncology, which led, in 1990, to a two-year fellowship in Medical Oncology at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, NY. Two years later, he began another one-year fellowship in Hematology at the same hospital.
In 1993, he accepted a position as a physician with North Hills Medical Center in Greenville, SC, as part of a program that helped foreign doctors attain permanent resident status in the U.S. in exchange for practicing in underserved urban areas. A condition of employment was to act as the laboratory director for the 30-physician, multi-specialty clinic, which served a large number of Medicaid patients. “Playing the dual role of physician and lab director let me practice both my specialties, and serving as lab director kept me very involved in quality practices,” said Dr. Ravichander.
He found that he also liked living in Greenville. When he completed his two-year commitment to the program in 1995, he continued on at North Hills Medical Center. In 2000, he decided to open his own practice, Eastside Hematology and Oncology, and, based on his previous employment experience, decided to add his own in-house laboratory.
Today, assisted by a medical assistant and two oncology nurses, Dr. Ravichander sees some 15-20 patients per day, most of whom require frequent CBC analyses to determine if their white blood cell counts are within the right range to proceed with subsequent chemotherapy treatments. While the practice’s nurses typically draw blood samples, Dr. Ravichander will pitch in to help during particularly busy stretches. If necessary, he also works in tandem with his medical assistant to run tests on the laboratory CBC machine to keep up with patient demand. “Sometimes patients are surprised to see me drawing blood or running their lab tests, but our long-time patients are pretty used to it by now,” he said.
For his hematology patients, many of whom are being treated for blood disorders, the doctor, in addition to performing CBC tests, also obtains patient bone marrow samples, which require more complex testing. For these tests, he prepares slide smears and then delivers the samples personally at the end of the work day to the local hospital laboratory for analysis. Still other complex tests are sent to area reference laboratories.
This “hands-on,” patient-focused approach to medicine and laboratory management has earned the doctor the reputation as a caring physician who wants the very best for his patients.
“Being so involved on the laboratory side, I find, is the best way to run a practice like this, since blood work analysis and other tests are so integral to the administration of chemotherapy and other drugs,” said Dr. Ravichander.
“Typically, our oncology patients, who are receiving chemotherapy over a period of weeks, come in the day before a treatment so we can run a CBC and other chemistry tests to ensure that their white blood cell counts have recovered satisfactorily from the last treatment. I don’t just treat patients. From drawing blood samples to running tests to overseeing laboratory quality control, I get involved in all facets of our patients’ care. They see that the ‘buck stops with me,’ which I think is a big part of why patients come here.”
Maintaining a laboratory on site also impacts the overall level of patient care, said Dr. Ravichander. “Every once and a while the CBC machine breaks down, and patients tend to get anxious and upset because they have to wait longer for their blood work to be analyzed. Everything just slows down as a result. That’s why it’s so great to have this equipment in-house – we’re so much more in control of the entire process.”
Eastside Hematology and Oncology has been a COLA client since 2001.
