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iPads becoming hospital fixture

Piggie said:
Well, unsure really how many hundred years an iPad would last for :p

Just think a very large hospital, with say, what 200, 300 members of staff with iPads.
Nice hygienic clean HARD floors.
Just how many iPads per day do you think you would be replacing due to smashed glass from being dropped?
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Well, one has to assume that if initial trials go well, otter box-type ruggedization measures would be taken to protect the units.. The data would be on servers, not on the devices themselves, so even if it gets dropped and broken, the data is "safe".

Honestly, I'd be more worried about the ipad as a source of cross contamination of germs given the tactile interface... As it is, doctors ties are considered some of the biggest carriers of germs and sources of infections in hospitals, to the point that some hospitals have banned men from wearing them in the hospital.
 
Piggie said:
Well, unsure really how many hundred years an iPad would last for :p

Just think a very large hospital, with say, what 200, 300 members of staff with iPads.
Nice hygienic clean HARD floors.
Just how many iPads per day do you think you would be replacing due to smashed glass from being dropped?
Click to expand...

And what does that have anything to do with the actual files that are stored remotely on a server somewhere?

You just shot your own argument in the foot. You can replace an iPad, you can't replace a paper document once its destroyed.
 
anjinha said:
Yeah, just continue ignoring the fact that things can go wrong with paper too.
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Hey, you Portugal beauty, I love you and everything, but if your piece of paper 'goes wrong', you can get another one from the pile and you can use a 10c pen to write on it. :)

Sometimes, keeping things simple makes a lot of sense and not just financially. iPads also impose a problem to hospitals as they have to be regularly wiped off to kill germs.
 
kernkraft said:
Hey, you Portugal beauty, I love you and everything, but if your piece of paper 'goes wrong', you can get another one from the pile and you can use a 10c pen to write on it. :)

Sometimes, keeping things simple makes a lot of sense and not just financially. iPads also impose a problem to hospitals as they have to be regularly wiped off to kill germs.
Click to expand...

Since when are paper files anything close to simple? :confused:
 
NT1440 said:
Since when are paper files anything close to simple? :confused:
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When you have to safely archive them, compared to digital data. Ask the NHS why, but paying for the largest empty salt mine for old paper archives has ridiculously small cost compared to going digital and processing/storing/maintaining databases. Also, iPads/computers cost more and it also takes longer to type on an iPad than to fill out a simple piece of paper. Further, you need an infrastructure around digital data processing. Networks, maintenance, etc.
 
I work at a hospital and we are currently testing ipads for daily use. We are using citrix receiver app to connect to virtual desktops.
 
We have just rolled out eMR last week at my hospital. My main concern is the completely amorphous interface developed by Cerner on contract to New South Wales Health. It would be better to have some kind of editable PDF or some such web form, which would be platform independent, and with the right sorts of security and permissions management, would be able to be logged into from any platform with a browser, including iPad.

The way they have it now, dependent as it is on windows laptops on trolleys, or having to rush back to a desktop to look something up instead of looking at the patient in the eye, is quite impersonal and may in fact lead to errors from memory lapses between obtaining information and data entry.

I think the future of successful eMR integration is point of service data entry, but that doesn't mean that that will be the future of eMR. At the moment, my complaints are met with the Jobs antenna-gate excuse: it's my fault and I must be a Luddite, even though I'm typing this up on my iPad in theatre right now and do all my anaesthetic billing on my own MBP at POS.

It's a bit like the blackhawk down debacle in Somalia. They didn't have the infrastructure or bandwidth to support their C4I2 model, so people drove two blocks before they got the command to turn right.
 
You could hang the iPad on a lanyard/belt pouch for mobile use or hang it on the bed/door like a regular clipboard.

As far as data loss goes -- one would assume that no data would be stored locally on the iPad. It would be stored on the Hospital servers. The iPad in this case would just be a very capable data collection / data display device.

As all medical records become digital, and standardized, things like the iPad will play a bigger role for sure.
 
Re: iPads becoming hospital fixture

We make an iPad case and accessories at my company, modulR. The University of Chicago Medical Center along with other hospitals have been field testing our upcoming shoulder strap (due to launch publicly in early November).

The doctors we work with tell us they love the efficiency they get from iPad and added uses modulR brings to it. modulR helps extend the iPad by letting doctors use it hands-free with our shoulder strap, mount it to the walls, or stand it on their desktop.

- Josh
 
kernkraft said:
When you have to safely archive them, compared to digital data. Ask the NHS why, but paying for the largest empty salt mine for old paper archives has ridiculously small cost compared to going digital and processing/storing/maintaining databases. Also, iPads/computers cost more and it also takes longer to type on an iPad than to fill out a simple piece of paper. Further, you need an infrastructure around digital data processing. Networks, maintenance, etc.
Click to expand...

Okay, I'll bite at your devil's-advocate routine. Sure, paper's great, but the reality is that medical records need to get standardized and accessible. Although statistics vary on the deaths and complications that arise from charting errors and discontinuity of care, nobody doubts that they're very real problems resulting in higher insurance costs for everyone. Having a reliable record of a patient's history as well as immediate access to current information is a step (or multiple steps) forward, not a step back.
 
2002cbr600f4i said:
Honestly, I'd be more worried about the ipad as a source of cross contamination of germs given the tactile interface...
Click to expand...

Yep, just for hospitals, there are tablet computers which are deliberately built to withstand constant cleaning with antibacterial agents.

So as you mentioned, the iPad should probably be in a case of some sort that can be cleaned.

All this reminds me of Microsoft's vision of healthcare in the future. I never get tired of watching it. See on YouTube here. MS does great concept videos; just wish they'd implement the GUIs they show.

PS. Note the 7"-ish tablet the doctor uses in the video. Nice size. However, he uses a stylus :)
 
Piggie said:
Well, unsure really how many hundred years an iPad would last for :p

Just think a very large hospital, with say, what 200, 300 members of staff with iPads.
Nice hygienic clean HARD floors.
Just how many iPads per day do you think you would be replacing due to smashed glass from being dropped?
Click to expand...

That would be what cases are for, preferably ones that protect the ipad and increase it's user-friendly function of the device:
http://www.modulrcase.com:)
 
As long as I don't have the job of Syncing 200 or 300 iPads every night onto the main server, pulling in all the data that's been entered into them! :eek:
 
It is not a matter of "IF" it is a matter of "WHEN".

Our current administration wants every thing to go electronic and in the end it will help as we can not keep up with all the paper.

My concern is privacy and everything about you will be open to anyone who can access the data. That will be everyone who really wants to do so.
 
Stealthipad said:
It is not a matter of "IF" it is a matter of "WHEN".

Our current administration wants every thing to go electronic and in the end it will help as we can not keep up with all the paper.

My concern is privacy and everything about you will be open to anyone who can access the data. That will be everyone who really wants to do so.
Click to expand...

You have to ask yourself.

Seeing as probably 20+ years ago we were told computers would get rid of paper. Why there is so much more being used today than ever before.

In my business, electronic copies are just no good. Items must be dispatched all the correct paperwork enclosed and signed. Duplicate, Triplicate copies.

Paperwork must be kept for years into the future in case of any issues with products.

Photocopies are not acceptable, they must be original signed documents.

Perhaps in some areas it does not matter, but in other areas a original sheet of paper, signed by the official qualified person is the only acceptable thing.
 
Wait. Did someone make the argument that physical paper records are EASIER to store/archive than digital records?

Seriously? Anything this person has ever said should be ignored. That's how ludicrously wrong that statement is.
 
bpaluzzi said:
Wait. Did someone make the argument that physical paper records are EASIER to store/archive than digital records?

Seriously? Anything this person has ever said should be ignored. That's how ludicrously wrong that statement is.
Click to expand...

Not easier to store, but I suspect they are seen (by those in charge) as more secure/reliable?

Perhaps they are not the right words, but that's how it's seen.

You supply items to the medical/surgery industry to be implanted into your body, the paper signed records must be kept for (officially ever, but I think 100 years is practical) in case something fails and a court case is brought, and documented evidence of the whole manufacturing/supply chain needs to be found.

Photocopies and printout just won't do. Signed originals are needed.
 
Piggie said:
As long as I don't have the job of Syncing 200 or 300 iPads every night onto the main server, pulling in all the data that's been entered into them! :eek:
Click to expand...

I don't see why any daily syncing would be required. As people have said before no data would be stored on the iPad itself. Instead the network connection would be used to access and update the records remotely.
 
blackNBUK said:
I don't see why any daily syncing would be required. As people have said before no data would be stored on the iPad itself. Instead the network connection would be used to access and update the records remotely.
Click to expand...

So the iPads would be used as mobile dumb terminals, and and data input made by the user on their rounds would automatically be updated live onto the server in the hospital?

Is that what we are saying?
 
Piggie said:
So the iPads would be used as mobile dumb terminals, and and data input made by the user on their rounds would automatically be updated live onto the server in the hospital?

Is that what we are saying?
Click to expand...

I think it would have to be some sort of client-server system. It's not going to be workable if everyone has to wait for the doctor to get back to their office before they can see the new updates they have made.

I wouldn't categorise this as a dumb terminal arrangement necessarily. You could use the modern equivalent of the dumb terminal (ie. Citrix/Remote Desktop software) to present the information to the user. Alternatively you could create a custom client App for iOS that connects to the EMR server. Finally it maybe possible to write a web interface for the EMR server that Safari could access, although I imagine that there would be security concerns with this option.
 
For now Citrix seems to be the preferred route (for my physician friends, at least) for EMR on the iPad. One of my friends is an Internist and spends a lot of time dealing with patients on the phone on evenings/weekends and it's an incredible convenience for him to keep the iPad with him wherever he is to check their records.
 
Not sure why the uproar against electronic medical records and making it easier to input data with an iPad or other device.

It is happening now and will keep going in this direction. Doctors have the ability now to write a prescription that never touches your hands. You just pick it up at the pharmacy. There are tons of benefits that I will not argue here and many already stated.

In regards to privacy, do you know how many people have access to your information now? That piece of paper ends up getting billed electronically to the insurance company at some point and touches many hands. Just because it is a piece of paper now does not mean it never turns into digital copies. Also, your credit and everything else about you is digital. Why should your medical records be a piece of paper? Part of HIPAA is to protect your privacy and there are large fines if you do not protect privacy. Simple things like email cannot contain any medical information about you. What about your mail? If I really wanted to know more about your health, easier to take your mail than to try and figure out your email or login to hack into. Also, most medical records are digital, this is just allowing doctors to use the information in easy useful ways. Right now, they have to transfer everything over when they are done seeing you. You just don't see this happening.
 
One more thing to add. Electronic records can be restricted to only allow certain people access, limit the amount of info, etc. You can record in audit logs who looked at it and when. With paper, no ability to do any of that.
 
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