If you follow technology news you know that tomorrow’s release of Apple’s new purported tablet is all the buzz right now. Some are calling it a slate, and some are calling it a tablet.
Back in 2005, when I left Sonoma and went out on my own with my own office in San Francisco, I bought a Fujistu Tablet PC that had a slate form factor. The slate form factor is merely a Tablet PC without the swiveling keyboard attached. I loved it, but not for the reasons I thought I would.
What you can use a Tablet PC for.
I bought the Fujitsu Tablet PC because I naively pictured myself walking around my new office, tablet in hand, talking to patients, and scribbling down notes. I pictured myself setting the tablet on a docking station, turning around to adjust a patient, and picking it back up to jot down some chart notes.
It turns out, I did none of that. I would use it to chart down patient notes, but the tablet remained at its station at all times. I used it more as a monitor most of the time, while I typed away at Fujitsu’s infrared keyboard, which worked very well, I might add. Once in a while, I would be forced to pick it up, unplug it, and set it flat on the desk to use the pen on the screen if I wanted to make a drawing in OneNote.
What I loved about the Tablet, though, is being able to read web pages while reclining. I use to kick back in one of my waiting room chairs, or recline in my office chair with my stylus in hand, scrolling through reading material. It was very handy for that, and ergonomically it was a life saver; it allowed you to be continually changing seating positions.
For blogging, taking notes at a seminar, or for graphic arts, it was wonderful to be able to draw concepts on one note, and to be able to convert those drawings to .jpeg, .pdf, or to save in “My Notebook.” Here’s a drawing I did for an early blog post:
and…
Sadly, I don’t think you will be able to easily do that with Apple’s new tablet. Apparently, Apple thinks pen input is archaic, and nobody will want it. I think that’s a mistake. Apple is always the computer company to go to if you are the creative type. Everyone talks about buying Macs if you want to edit video (something I use to do on my Tablet PC with Sony Vegas, by the way). All of the photography podcasts I listen to talk about using a Mac for photo editing. I watch Adobe Illustrator tutorials, and I see the presenters using Macbooks. But, Apple doesn’t want to use pen computing? I guess we will still have Wacom pens and tablets to use…
But what about healthcare?
I can’t speak for hospitals and large medical clinics with thousands of patient files and a basement full of medical records, but for a small chiropractic office, I see a possibility to use the Apple Tablet as a note taking device, maybe, and as a reference devices for sure. They say the mac tablet will be based on a version of the iPhone software. If so, it will be horrible at note taking, but a very handy reference tool.
I have an iPod Touch. It’s amazing. Its interface is not like a full sized computer’s interface because it is so simple, yet so powerful. There’s no file system to dive into. the ‘Touch, of course, also uses the iPhone software. The problem is, it’s horrible for note taking. You can’t type patient notes with your thumbs. You can hardly even type someone’s name and phone number in their notes software or with Evernote. Don’t even try! I remember, not too long ago, that someone made chiropractic note taking software for the Palm Pilot, Palm III, and Palm whatever-ended-the-line. Everyone thought that doctors would be walking around in the future taking notes on their Palm Pilots. They even ran the ad selling the software in chiropractic magazines waaay past the expiration date. I don’t know what happened to the chart notes stuck inside the software of those Palm Pilots, but I bet those docs had a hard time getting the information out and converted to their newest software. They probably gave up, printed it out, and went back to paper charts.
I have a feeling that Apple’s slate will be equally horrible for note taking. They would have to do something amazing with voice recognition technology for note taking; that’s probably the only way to do it with a slate device with no pen. For doctors who want to go chartless or even paperless in their offices, you’ll probably want to stick to a real computer. I suggest using a Thinkpad x200 slate if you want to try your hand at pen-based computer chart notes. You know that Microsoft’s file system isn’t going anywhere, and OneNote is an excellent way, I found, to make a template and chart some notes down.
If you’re a Mac user and you have been deriding the idea of a Tablet PC because Apple never made one, grow up and get yourself a Wacom tablet to replace your mouse. It will change your computing life, especially if you do anything with graphic arts.
Todd Lloyd, DC
a Chiropractor in Sonoma
Dr. Todd,
This is a great post and couldn’t have come at a better time. I was just trying to figure out the best solution for my office, since I need a tablet. The slate might be the perfect fit.
Right now I am in the position of modifying our practice management intake forms for SOAP and Exam notes, attempting to go paperless.
On top of that I am a Mac user at home(I switched a few years back, and won’t be going to a PC again.) Seeing the Mac tablet is pretty awesome.
I am not understanding the idea of a writing instrument being archaic. Maybe they have a proprietary technology that will read our thoughts.
-G
Now that the iPad is out, I’m wondering if it would be a cool device for the office. It has a keyboard accessory which makes it ideal for simple note taking or blogging, and I wonder if anyone is going to come out with some chiropractic office apps or perhaps just a standard skeleton app you could show patients. Do you think you’re going to get one?
Devin. I probably would not use the iPad for record keeping. At least not for the main input device. If I were to go back to a Tablet-based system, I would probably get a Thinkpad X200T because it’s got the keyboard and the swivel screen. When I was using a Tablet for records, I rarely carried it around with me.
If I were to use an internet-based EMR, I can see using an iPad a second device, but I probably wouldn’t bother with the keyboard. I see more utility with the iPad as a patient education device because you can instantly turn it on and flip through pictures as you explain things.
It’s tough to carry around a Tablet when seeing patients. Even with the extremely thin iPad form factor, it’s not easy to find a place to put it. It doesn’t fit in your pocket.
I know a paper chart doesn’t fit in a pocket either, but then a paper chart is easy to flip through for fast access to where you need to go. For this reason, I’m sort of contemplating going back to regular paper charts as I am actively managing a patient, then scanning them and archiving them digitally.
I can’t wait to try out the iPad, though. And, I can’t wait to see what EMR software developers come up with in the future that can leverage its design.
Todd
[...] having a slate in your hand, taking notes while talking to patients doesn’t always pan out. I’ve tried this with a slate style Tablet PC in my chiropractic office, and I rarely picked it up. That’s one of my arguments against using an Apple iPad, and that same [...]
I’ve been looking into the ipad for SOAP and exam notes. Anyone ever try the ipad app “writepad?” Allows you to write with a stylus on an existing template (exam form, travel card, etc.) You can just create a patient file and then drag these templates into their file after each visit.
I decided against Apple tablets and went with something less breakable.