How is the Applie iPad going to change daily work in a hospital?

What if every doctor used iPads through out their practice.  Let’s think about this. 

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Imagine this scenario: The nurse sets up the chart on the iPad, the doctor walks in with a stylus and examines you, and when he’s done the chart goes into the file and the prescription is waiting at the desk for you, printed clearly, along with your Coordination of Care Record. Hand the nurse your credit card and you’re off. No one has to rekey any data…..lessens chance for error.

Applie iPad - New medical device?

You can put a full day’s work in there and give one to every doctor. Or you can load charts remotely from the nursing station as each patient is admitted, and keep one in each exam room. At these prices you can do both — one per doctor, one per exam room.   Quite simply, this device transforms medical practice and delivers a solid, easy-to-follow upgrade path directly from paper. Put security on the clinic’s WiFi (you probably have that already) and HIPAA is happy. A little VOIP and pager software and you can follow the staff wherever they go, which is one reason WiFi is so cool in a hospital setting to begin with.  You could even use it to order more medical supplies for your facility.

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Thought I would put together some quotes on what different people in the healthcare industry are saying about the Apple iPad.  Would love to hear from all of our readers on what impact they expect it to have. 

I believe the iPad is big news for healthcare providers and all patients. Even without a camera, the Apple iPad will push healthcare away from the medical office and away from the desktop. – Ted Eytan, Kaiser Permanente

“Anything that could take doctor’s time away from administrative duties, I imagine there would be a benefit,” says Matt Fenwick, spokesman for the American Hospital Association, when asked about Apple’s new tablet that was announced Wednesday.  “I would imagine that would be significant improvements.”

It is rumored that Apple is targeting the potential of the heathcare industry and offers a cheaper alternative than an existing communication devices used in healthcare settings. For instance, the Apple tablet would cost about $1,000 compared to the $2,199 retail price for the Motion Computing C5 Mobile Clinical Assistant platform i9s, which has been designed for the healthcare industry.

The iPad  is not a game changer. The device seems to suffer from the usual Apple problems that make using it in healthcare difficult, namely a non-replaceable battery and AppStore uncertainty. That said, iPad seems to be a new tool for patient use and that large (9.7 inch) screen and 3G [wireless connectivity] is a big help. I agree with New York Times columnist David Pogue that time and the quality of the iPad’s software development kit will tell. Also, lack of multi-tasking may be an issue, but it could be fixed in an upcoming software update. PC Magazine has some good thoughts here. – Rob Havasy, Business Analyst, Partners Healthcare’s Center for Connected Health.

The iPad has a better larger interface for viewing one’s personal health records and it’s just portable enough to take to the doctor’s office. I think the iPad may also find traction with hospice and visiting nurses teams that provide at-home care. The iPad (I hate that name) also could find a market with the elderly as it could compete with Intel’s Health Guide. For acute care markets, however, I think the iPad will find limited adoption because it is too big to be truly mobile and not quite big enough for intensive medical applications. There is big potential for education, however — imagine Grey’s Anatomy on an iPad! That’d be cool. As a patient, I could use it to store or access my health records, including rich CT scans that I could share with my care team. - John Moore, Managing Director, Chilmark Research

Will the iPad replace the iPhone for clinicians? I think not. Will it find strong adoption among care providers? Probably, but how strong? is the question. Providers will still want the performance and pocket-sized convenience of the iPhone for their phone needs, but undoubtedly a significant group will add the iPad as either their individual in-clinic device (or perhaps as a shared resource tool for multiple users). We here at Blausen Medical we’ve obviously got a dog in the fight with our Human Atlas iPhone app, we can see the dramatic enhancement in viewing our animations on a screen twice as large as the iPhone. The advantages in delivering point of care patient education are enormous, and coupled with the ease for new users of downloading from the iTunes App Store, or transferring already purchased apps from their iPhones, make the new iPad a natural. We’ll see where this goes, but aside from all the buzz about the iPad’s e-reader and gaming strengths, we believe it could drive additional momentum behind the already bubbling area of mobile communication in the healthcare vertical. – Bruce Blausen, Founder, Blausen Medical

I join Bruce in the belief that this will drive momentum for iPad’s and iPhones in Healthcare. The form factor is ideal for patient education, medical image viewing and interacting with the EMR. However, point of care workers need a smaller footprint, that can go into the pocket of their scrubs. Everyone needs more effective communication, so you can expect Voalté on both platforms! - Rob Campbell, CEO, Voalté

A few quick hit iPad features that the healthcare community should be excited about: 10 hours of battery life; a (relatively speaking) cheap starting pricepoint of $499; a beautiful screen; an external keyboard that attaches and docks to the device.

Also read Kevin MD’s view of this device.