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O C T O B E R 2 0 1 4 | O U T P AT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E
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martphones and tablets are already widespread in the OR, but
experts say there are more ways to use them than just as mod-
ern-day beepers. We asked around and found the 7 coolest
ways to use mobile devices in your facility.
1
Patient communication
Apps for smartphones are changing how doctors are interacting
with their patients. After seeing patients struggling with
colonoscopy preps, Paul Berggreen, MD, at Arizona Digestive Health
co-created an app to communicate instructions to patients more clearly.
Dr. Berggreen has improved his SmartClinic app since it first
launched in 2012. It now works with other clinics and specialties.
Patients download the app for free (there's a fee for facilities to join),
and it places notifications in their calendars, sending them appoint-
ment reminders and passing messages between providers and
patients. Other features include written or video pre-op instructions
and satisfaction surveys. Best of all, he says, SmartClinic sends
patients their procedure results — before they even leave recovery.
"It clarifies the whole process," says Dr. Berggreen.
There are plenty of medical apps out there for Apple and Android
phones to help facilitate physician-to-patient communication, but the
best let doctors demonstrate procedures to patients clearly, says
Satish Misra, MD, managing editor of iMedicalApps.com and a cardiol-
ogy fellow at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. Free apps like drawMD and
Orca Health are 2 that work great, he says, and let surgeons draw on
X-rays or anatomical bodies. Tablets can also be used in the waiting
room to let patients watch videos or read fact sheets on the type of
procedure they are receiving. This way "everything they hear isn't
totally new" when they first meet the surgeon, says Dr. Misra, noting
that increased communication often equals increased satisfaction.
D I G I T A L O R
