I sometimes imagine how I might be working in the future. I suspect there will be a convergence of the EMR with social types of communication.
It might go something like this:
I see a patient and record basic information to a tablet at the bedside. I complete my record at my workstation which syncs with my tablet. At my workstation I have a large flat screen monitor with my EMR occupying the left side. On the right is a communication portal that consists of a real time stream of direct professional communication with my local pediatricians. Think Twitter with encrypted, HIPAA compliant dialog.
So I’m at my workstation completing my impression on my last patient when a message pops up from one of the pediatricians at Texas Children’s Practice Associates. He sees that I’m live at my desk and wonders if I have a minute to discuss a case via telechat.
Caleb Jones (fictional), a boy with ulcerative colitis, is in his office with mild cramping and occasional blood-streaked stools. He asks what I recommend. His name is tagged which immediately brings his chart to the left side of my screen. I see that his Colazal dose is low relative to his recent growth. I recommend some blood work and a bump in his Colazal dose. We arrange follow up in 4 weeks.
The brief exchange automatically becomes part of the record.
The system recognizes that I’m discussing ulcerative colitis and Colazal. In a panel on the right lower portion of my screen appear 4 recent publications on 5-ASA use. One recent study catches my eye that suggests high dose 5-ASA is equally as effective as steroids in mild UC. I select the study and it’s immediately available on my desktop.
In the upper right hand of my screen is a panel carrying a real time stream for pediatric gastroenterologists worldwide. It’s a place for the presentation and discussion of tough pediatric GI cases. Cases are tagged so that I can follow discussions centered on inflammatory bowel disease, for example.
On the lower left part of the screen I can passively monitor the dialog happening between incoming patient messages and our triage nurse. Serious issues and things that she doesn’t think she can handle are flagged to me so that I can review the thread or recorded tele-exchange. I can then communicate directly back with the nurse or patient depending on the nature of the problem. This too is linked to the child’s record.
How cool would that be? The vision of a dashboard has been the subject of dialog by others long before this post. Jay Parkinson has done something like this over at Hello Health but it hasn’t been tailored to the masses.
What would you want on your digital dashboard?
Image via Web Icon Set.