By Sheila Crowley

Fulda Free Press staff writer

Kenneth McDonough, MD is the newest face to join the medical staff at Murray County Medical Center, Slayton.

McDonough specializes in occupational medicine along with family medicine. Currently McDonough is doing training on MCMC’s computer system. He should be ready to start seeing patients by the middle of September.

McDonough obtained a B.S. in Zoology from the University of Minnesota and furthered to gain an M.S. in Medical Informatics. The health informatics is the practice of acquiring, studying and managing health data and applying medical concepts in conjunction with health information technology systems to help clinicians provide better healthcare. This is a growing field, according to McDonough, as more and more medical records are becoming electronic. “It’s using information through employers and health plans to provide medical management and perhaps target those who might benefit from more pro-active outreach,” said McDonough. An example he used was someone who often visits the ER for perhaps asthma. With this type of information, the medical staff could reach out to them on how to prevent future episodes. He continued, “It’s looking at data to see something that’s happening which is maybe not controlled.”  In addition, he hopes to work with larger companies to develop occupational medicine and utilize MCMC.

Following his graduation in ‘79 McDonough  did his internship at Hennipin Medical Center, Minneapolis, MN. He obtained a master’s degree in public health and then traveled to San Francisco, California where he did two years of residency for occupational medicine.

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