The Chicago Sun-Times recently featured an interesting article about the different ways Chicago doctors are using the iPad in their practices. The most common uses are to research clinical information, side effects, and common medical conditions, as well as to access EMRs. However, beyond the use as a reference tool for physicians, the device is increasingly being used to help interact with patients. For example, patients can be shown their imaging, lab work and EKGs on an easy-to-read screen.
According to the article, Dr. Richard Watson, an emergency room physician in Chicago, used his iPad to show 14-year-old Gustavo Pintor an X-ray of his sprained ankle.
“It was cool to see,” said the teen, who’d gotten hurt at soccer practice. “I feel like I understand what happened now.”
The article also points out one of the pitfalls of switching from paper-based charts to PC based EMRs. You have to be sitting in front of a computer at a desk to access the chart. With a portable device like the iPad, you can be wherever the patient is, for example in a trauma bay in the emergency department, and still have complete access to the patient’s data and be able to order tests and see results in real-time without having to find a desktop computer.
The University of Chicago Medical center plans to provide iPads to all of its internal medical residents and Loyola University Medical Center has given iPads to all of its orthopedics residents in a pilot program.
Link: iPad functionality just what doctor ordered …
Image credit: EdTech Stanford University School of Medicine on Flickr…
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