Today I made a visit to the doctor that restored my hearing. I never thought I would say this about a doctor’s office, but this one is one of my favorite places to visit. It would be reason enough that this place will always be remembered as the miracle hearing restoration place, but on top of that it is a medical practice that is outfitted with Tablet PCs. Tablets can serve such offices with panache, yet it is rare to see so many of the devices in such an office. After two visits and an extended conversation with the doctor running the practice, I now know why such offices are rare. They’re not needed as a rule.
There are three distinct sections to this practice, and each is using a different Tablet PC. The first section in the practice is where the audiologists use HP 2710p convertible tablets, one of my all-time favorites. They are as thin as can be, and great convertible notebooks. I assumed the practice chose them for the ability to use them in slate mode while moving all around the office, but I was wrong. The audiologists and the doctor admitted to me the 2710p is only used as a laptop, and only in the hearing test rooms. They are in essence thin and light desktop computers, so there is no need for them at all. When the medical practice was set up over three years ago, they were recommended by the consultants employed to get them going. These convertibles were over $2,000 each back then. Very expensive desktops at that.
In the second section of the practice using Tablet PCs, it’s a different story. The nurses and assistants all use HP tc4400 convertible notebooks, and they chose them for the mobility. When a patient is taken to an examination room, a nurse or assistant steps in with the tc4400 and does the prep work for the doctor. They take the vital signs, and discuss the reason for the patient’s visit. Everything is entered in real-time into the convertible, which updates the patient’s file over the wireless network. It works well, and you don’t see a paper file anywhere in the practice.
Once again, these convertibles are only used in laptop mode. This is faster due to the staff’s familiarity with the keyboard. Time is money in this busy practice and they have to spend too much time correcting interpretation errors if they use the pen in tablet mode, I was told. The laptops work well for their use, so it’s no big deal they aren’t using the pen. It is a big deal that they paid for convertibles when they don’t need them, however. Especially considering they have a dozen of them used in this way.
Lastly, the doctors themselves carry Motion slates around with them when visiting patients. Finally I thought I’d see some pen action, since there’s no keyboard on the Motion. That was not to be, as the doctor simply uses the Motion for reference. It’s handy for them as they have the entire patient file at hand (literally). It’s easy to carry around from room to room, and it’s easy for the doctor to show something to the patient when needed.
I spent some time talking to the doctor about this to understand why they have all of these tablets but never use the pen. He admitted he hates the Motion, because he has to dock it in his office if he wants to enter information (with the keyboard). The pen doesn’t work for him and he doesn’t use if for anything but a mouse pointer while walking around. I asked him if he’d looked at tablets with touchscreens, and his eyes lit up at the thought.
Geek that I am, I pulled the ThinkPad x200t out of my backpack and let him play with it. He was pumped up that he could tap things on the screen, eliminating the need to pull out the pen. He was so happy tapping things I was beginning to wonder if I’d get the ThinkPad away from him. He was equally impressed that it weighed not much more than his Motion slate, yet was a full convertible notebook too.
What he really wanted was a notebook computer that could be used as a touch tablet when desired. I explained that this ThinkPad wasn’t the only one that could do this. The new HP 2740p has a touch option too. He had no idea that such technology existed, and sadly this is not an unusual case. One of the obstacles to adoption of the Tablet PC has always been lack of knowledge about them, especially with so-called consultants like this doctor used when he set up his practice. He’s spent the past three years lamenting the big bucks spent on Tablets he didn’t need.
I believe with proper software and training, his staff could get good use out of all these tablets. But it hasn’t happened in three years, and there’s no reason to believe it will happen at all. I find it interesting that a touch tablet is really all the doctor needs to get his work done. Sometimes it’s the simple things.
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