--- shiv sastry <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > It clips on to a pad, and you write on paper. A > copy automatically goes into > the gizmo (displayed on the screen as you > write) to be downloaded later.
OK, it is a handwriting-capture device that is purely a supplement to current record system. That makes sense and is a small step forward. > Incidentally there was this news report about a > bloke who used a pen scanner > to scan his exam question paper and sent it > over a cell phone to cheat-mates. > Apparently this company will sell such pen > scanners as well - but that is > less useful to me than this gizmo - for which I > see loads of possibilities. Scanning medical documents can be temporary solution when moving from paper to electronic medical records. It creates extra work and hence cannot be a standard way to input into the electronic medical record. > I foresee a day when each patient's bedside > will have a (wireless) clipboard > with electronic paper - a screen on which you > write like ordinary paper while > what you write gets transferred to a central > memory as you write. With my > hands in gloves I can request a nurse or > assistant to hold up the chart so I > can look for some detail or other - perhaps an > investigation report that can > be called up at the touch of a button (as can > be done now by the turn of a > page). Even better than paper - I should be > able to see X rays and scans on > the board - an act that is now physically more > unwieldy with paper, requiring > the extraction of scans from envelopes and/or > moving to a separate viewing > area. Imaging is the least of the problems in terms of electronic compatibility. Almost all new imaging machines produce digital images (that can be printed on paper or film if needed) and hence can be moved around on electronic networks. For imaging it is a problem of having a hospital network in place not a problem of data capture. Just the opposite is the problem in the case of patient notes. As far as I know there is no good way for electronic capture of patient notes. Handwriting capture (like your mobile e-note) is the least intrusive but is unprocessable by machines in any intelligent fashion. Handwriting to text conversion may help but is still very error-prone in the medical domain. Speech to text capture is fast but does not work in the nosiy clinical workplace. In most places where physicians record their notes the conversion to text is done by human transcriptionists. The current default is to have the doctors, nurses, etc type in their notes at a terminal. However, this usually disrupts the clinical workflow since you cannot type while on rounds. Also, there is an insidious problem with the current system of electronic notes. People tend to copy, paste and modify their previous notes rather than type in a note de novo. Ultimately you have zillion lines of text that you have to parse to extract the salient clinical features that defeats the very purpose of cinical notes. This may be a US-specific problem where documenting eveything is given undue importance. shyam ____________________________________________________________________________________ Bored stiff? Loosen up... Download and play hundreds of games for free on Yahoo! Games. http://games.yahoo.com/games/front
