--
Khaled Homouda, MD
Alsalam Hospital, Kuwait
Office: 965-2540789
Cell: 965-7007325
khomouda@qualitynet.net
_____
From: ob-gyn-l@obgyn.net [mailto:ob-gyn-l@obgyn.net] On Behalf Of Rafael
Haciski
Sent: Thursday, March 27, 2008 7:45 AM
To: Multiple recipients of list OB-GYN-L
Subject: Re: Tablet PC recommendations
Charles, what solution are you referring to?
Rafael Haciski MD FACOG
Anchor Health Centers GYN
800 Goodlette Rd #360
239-643-8780 office
239-571-0292 cell
Naples, FL.
On Mar 21, 2008, at 7:22 AM, Charles Bloom wrote:
Years ago I decided to get rid of all my paper charts and go paperless.
I couldn't find a cost-effective EMR that suited my needs so I found a
solution that worked for me. The day I set it up, I started
transferring records as new and existing patients started coming in. It
was totally painless. The only paper charts left are those of patients
who haven't come back since going paperless and they are archived.
Interestingly, I have met others who came up with the same solution on
their own so it must be fairly obvious.
At Wed, 19 Mar 2008, Garry E. Siegel, M.D. wrote:
My practice has not yet really looked into EMR for many reasons, and
while I am reasonably into technology (I guess most of us are, to a
degree), it scares the fool out of me because I think that the
transition will be painful and the upside will take months, if not
years, to be evident. This is from someone who uses a handheld
dictaphone and, frankly, it works, it is quick, it is legible, etc. It's
a shame it is costly.
That said, Rafael's comments are sage.
Garry
It's not really that simple.
If you put aside the presumed greater portability of the tablet (thus
easier to use in running from room to room seeing patients) which is
not always the case as other listers have pointed out, the "user
friendly thing" depends ENTIRELY on the software.
For example, considering one particular program (EMR) that I am
familiar with, it is written to be used with a stylus on a touch
screen portable (although it could just as well be on a tablet). Yet
is is such a horrible POC and so poorly written that it actually
slows down your patient flow. Being a touch typist (or if you have a
decent speech recognition software) you can complete a patient
encounter twice as fast entering the info into a basic data base, or
even a word processing program, or at its most basic, an email
program where you store each encounter as one letter. All easily
searchable and listable.
If one had an elegant program where form followed function (as, for
example, iPhone) then touch screen becomes a pleasure to use and a
light tablet computer comes in handy. But if no such program exists
(or you do not have one) then a touch screen actually slows you
down. As an example, entering a simple item such as a "chief
complaint" into the EMR, it takes me 2-3 times as long to find the
appropriate choice of words from the pull-down menu:
... tap on the field to open the menu,
... search (and scroll through) the long list of possible choices,
... find what matches your needs,
... click on the choice,
... close the menu window
than it does for me to type the few necessary words into the field.
Ideally, that pull down menu should appear as I enter the field, and
as I type into the field, the choices should be gradually narrowed
until I find the one or two choices needed or complete the one I
need. An intelligent software.
Without well written software the hardware is useless. It takes
visionary software and hardware engineers to put the two together.
We had one major revolution (evolution) in 1984 when the first Mac
came out with the GUI interface (not even invented by Apple, but by
Xerox who did not realize the beauty of their invention and let it
languish on the shelves), and now Apple does it again with the iPhone
(much of it is technology was already around, they just put it
together in a very neat package). If only all software/hardaware
packages were so intuitive and easy to use!
We have no such package in medicine at the moment. All we can do is
debate the benefits of meager offerings (but very expensive) we do
have, and wish, and hope for that spark of genius which will give us
an intuitive, easy, efficient, and intelligent software/hardware
package to care for our patients efficiently.
--
Rafael Haciski MD FACOG
Anchor Health Centers GYN
800 Goodlette Rd #360
239-643-8780 office
239-571-0292 cell
Naples, FL.
On Mar 18, 2008, at 12:54 PM, FRANCES WREN wrote:
so re tablet PC's ...do you think it is a more convenient...ie a
nicer, more user friendly thing?
frances wren
>----- Original Message -----
From: robert berg <robert.berg@nyu.edu>
Date: Tuesday, March 18, 2008 10:40 am
Subject: Re: Tablet PC recommendations
To: Multiple recipients of list OB-GYN-L <ob-gyn-l@mail.obgyn.net>
tablet pcs have a touch screen and you can write on them
directly with a
stylus (as well as type with a standard keyboard). on
laptops, you have to
use the keyboard and mouse for input
On 3/18/08, FRANCES WREN <fwren@shaw.ca> wrote:
this may be rather a dumb question...I have a mini
toshiba laptop .why
would one get a PC tablet.
I love gadgets though I am totally electronically unsaavy...so
I would get
a tablet if it seems a great..lighter...etc etc addition.
advice please, as I have been curious re the exchange re tablets.
frances wren MD FRCS
>----- Original Message -----
From: Douglas Krell <dkrell@msn.com>
Date: Monday, March 17, 2008 2:49 pm
Subject: Tablet PC recommendations
To: Multiple recipients of list OB-GYN-L <ob-gyn-
l@mail.obgyn.net>>
We're using a Gateway tablet but find problems with short
battery life/hot running machine. We're wanting to switch.
Anybody using a new tablet that they love?
--
Douglas Krell MD
--
__________________________________
Robert E. Berg, MD, FACOG, FACS
__________________________________
__________________________________
__________________________________
__________________________________
And this affects me, how?
--
Garry E. Siegel, M.D.
Private Practice
Roswell, GA
--
Charles Bloom, MD
dr_csbloom@yahoo.com
