Are you using an iPad as a patient education tool?

The Apple iPad truly has been a game changer in the world of patient education. Now, physicians, nurses, and other health care professionals have the ability to educate patients using multimedia at the bedside. Plus, the touch interaction enhances that educational experience and helps your patient remember what you're teaching him/her.

So, the next time you want to illustrate a back problem, stomach anatomy, or a vascular problem, consider using a modern piece of technology to illustrate your point as you're speaking. Any tablet will do.

The iPad as a patient empowerment tool

Patients want to be empowered. Physicians want their patients to improve the self-management of chronic conditions. Will the new Apple iPad bridge some of these gaps and become an effective patient empowerment tool?

On one hand, the iPad can be used by health care providers to teach patients about diseases and conditions. Imagine if every patient went to a doctor's visit with an iPad. The doctor could help the patient record some notes, access important patient education materials, and could also provide the patient with some digital media that could be used to help that patient manage his/her disease when he/she returns home. Patients frequently forget the majority of the conversation after leaving the doctor's office, so why not leverage digital media technology to capture some of the key points during that encounter with the physician?

When the patient gets home, imagine if he/she were to use the iPad as an entertainment device. Suddenly, the device could beep and remind the patient to take his/her pills. Also, a reminder could pop up to remind the patient to watch the disease management video that highlights some of the lifestyle modifications this patient needs to make over the next few weeks. The patient could record progress on the iPad and take the device to his/her next visit.

• The large screen on the iPad is ideal for those who have poor vision.
• The iPad is thin and light. It can be carried almost anywhere.
• Most doctors will know how to use an iPad. Don't they already use the iPhone?
• The iPad is easy for many people to use. After all, who's never used an iPod touch or an iPhone?
• The multimedia capabilities found on the iPad can be used to teach and empower patients.

Some have said that 2010 will be the year of the tablet PC. I think it's going to be the year when mobile slate devices begin to revolutionize health care.

Microsoft Surface at #HIMSS10

Soon, physicians will be showing patients their recent cardiac test results using Microsoft Surface. This amazing touch-screen table technology has a wide range of applications in the world of health care, patient communication, and health education. It's been great to see the Surface here at HIMSS10.

Microsoft Surface is a revolutionary multi-touch computer that responds to natural hand gestures and real-world objects, helping people interact with digital content in a simple and intuitive way. With a large, horizontal user interface, Surface offers a unique gathering place where multiple users can collaboratively and simultaneously interact with data and each other.

You can see the Microsoft Surface in the HIMSS10 exhibit hall. Make sure you don't miss it!

Special thanks to HP for sponsoring me to attend and blog here at HIMSS10.

How doctors and medical students can use the Apple iPad to improve patient education

I think that physicians, nurses, and medical/nursing students have a very unique opportunity to use the Apple iPad to teach patients. Some patients are visual learners, so the use of a portable multimedia device will be an innovative and highly effective way to demonstrate certain critical elements of diseases and conditions. Instead of drawing something on the back of a paper towel, you'll now have access to rich multimedia so that you can educate your patients.

Someday, when patients are waiting in the exam room, they won't have static wall charts. They'll have interactive, multimedia screens on the walls explaining elements of anatomy, diseases, procedures, and much more. Some of this is happening in the waiting rooms and some physicians even have educational screen savers running on the computers that are in each exam room. Now, you can expect to see a docked iPad in every exam room so that the physician or nurse can quickly grab that mobile device to teach the patient. What a powerful patient education tool!