Re: Tablet PC recommendations
From: Rafael Haciski (haciski@earthlink.net)
Wed Mar 26 22:41:37 2008
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
