Is the iPad® about to change emergency medicine?
Posted by CEP America on Thu, May 27, 2010 @ 08:28 AM
As noted recently in
Emergency Physicians Monthly, the iPad is causing a growing number of emergency physicians to think about ways to use the device in the emergency room.
Hype aside, just as the iPhone® changed mobile phones and the iPod® revolutionized the music industry, it's likely that the iPad will change the way work is conducted in the emergency department.
How? Because of the pace, the interruptions, and the need for information, the tried and true pen and paper method of operation denies emergency physicians easy access to patient data and decision support. Some EDs are using electronic information systems, with doctors sometimes more focused on the computer screen than on the patient. Still other EDs use scribes.
However in the not-too-distant-future, the iPad could potentially change everything, allowing emergency physicians and staff to use iPads to tap on elements of the history of the patient - all very quickly at the bedside. These tablets would also enable physicians to go over images and lab results with patients, and review diagnoses and instructions.
It will all come down to the buzzword of 2010 "apps". At present there are no fully integrated and comprehensive ED information system apps on the iPad. For now, an emergency department could use existent apps for patient education, interfacing with PACS, or discharge instruction templates.
But once ED-specific apps are made available - and they will - it's likely that emergency physicians and nurse practioners could have a tracking board to monitor patients' bed status or vitals, voice transcription software that can export transcriptions to charts, and many more. Some experts are predicting that a vendor will eventually release an app that does it all, seamlessly interfacing with the enterprise, offering charting, computerized order entry, bed tracking, results review, and admission and discharge pathways.
So even though the iPad is currently in its infancy, stay tuned. Before you know it, the technology will likely liberate physicians and have them chuckling about the "old days" of desktop ED information systems and paper charts.
Any thoughts on the topic? Please share!