The New Health Dialogue

First of two somewhat health tech-y items today:

This post from a blog called FutureDocs by Vineet Arora MD describes the many ways an attending physician -- treating patients, supervising interns and residents and trying to keep up with email! -- used the iPad on and off service.

• Point of care teaching
• Preparing for teaching rounds
• Immediate access to a computer
• Access to patients medical record
• Balancing clinical work with academic work
• Relaxation! And keeping up with the nonmedical news of the day. And finding a good restaurant and a map (this was not at the bedside).

Drawbacks:

• No place to put it down in patients room, and it doesn't fit into lab coat pocket (she did find a strap that works on overstock.com)
• Can it become the I-germ?
• Doesn't have multiple windows, so lots of logging in and out
• Spotty wireless access in her particular work environment

Pluses outweighing the minuses. Her hospital ordered a bunch of iPads for its residents, and it isn't alone... Having seen doctors and nurses in hospitals scribbling on paper and then having the notes transferred into the computer system... Something like this could make a lot of sense -- although Dr. Arora does point out that tiny fingers are a typing advantage.