Did you ever have a hard time trying to understand someone’s messy handwriting? Fortunately, with the advent of computers, the art of handwriting is falling by the wayside.
However, what if you’re in a situation where handwriting is really important for a job, specifically, if you’re writing on a whiteboard at work? In this case, information on that whiteboard is really important, but if its not legible, no one’s going to understand your message.
As the father of four children, I’ve experienced multiple visits to the Emergency Room at hospitals in Toronto or the GTA, and fortunately, all were non-life threatening instances. You know the routine — wait in the emergency reception area for an indeterminate length of time. Once you’re called into the Emergency Room, you then get to sit around and do even more waiting for the doctor to come around and see you. At every instance that I’m there, I notice a handwritten whiteboard behind the nurse’s station with the names of patients, doctors and their times of entry. I can’t help but notice how ineligible the writing on this whiteboard can be sometimes, and also, how long it takes the nurse to write all the patient/staff information on it.
Being in the digital display business, I naturally thought, there must be a better way! After a couple of weeks of research, our graphic artists and web developers came up with the idea of creating a digital whiteboard, or what we now call, a Digital Patient Information Board (DPIB).
If you’re wondering how it works, it’s actually quite simple. The patient’s information is entered into a basic spreadsheet application, which then gets streamed on to the whiteboard in real time. One of its great features is the ability to customize the digital whiteboard to suit each hospital’s needs. In addition, MyMedia’s integration team can also sync this application to patient intake systems so that the work does not have to be duplicated and will streamline the operation of the hospital.
In the near future, when healthcare devices such as heart monitors and other vital sign instruments have their own IP address, we can take that data and populate it right beside the patient names. This will enable the nurse’s station to monitor each patient, in real time, with even greater care.
This is why I love technology. When we start to think about the many different ways we can improve the healthcare system, then I start to see how we can make positive contributions to a rapidly changing world.
Recently, we’ve had a couple of US hospitals test out our Digital Patient Information Board with great success and we’re looking to do the same in Canada, at no extra cost.
Are you a health care professional interesting in piloting a digital whiteboard for your hospital or clinic? We’d love to get your feedback, input and insight.
If you’re interested or know someone who is, please call 1-866-636-0636.
