Technology in Healthcare Education
Hopefully all candidates entering the healthcare world would know to expect they would be utilizing Information Technology (I.T.), and therefore should expect to utilize it during their classroom, laboratory, and clinical experiences.
I have used PowerPoint® in clickable interactive format to create a simulated patient electronic medical record (EMR). I tried to design it to be a foreshadowing of what a student will see when (s)he goes into clinical. For those familiar with reading a patient’s EMR, it may include the following and more:
History and Physical, Emer. Dept. record, Laboratory values, Radiographic images and interpretation, specialized notes from Registered Respiratory Therapists or other specialists, Physician orders, surgical notes, and much more.
One other thought about I.T. in healthcare, artificial intelligence (A.I) may increasingly play a role in patient safety. Picture a weary Resident physician at 3 am, trying to make sense of a patient’s deteriorating condition. With A.I. thoughtfully incorporated into such EMRs as Epic® programmed to catch all out of range laboratory values, a summary of abnormal values can be sent to the Resident to consider, not dominating the human freedom to analyze, but to offer a gentle nudge to consider “what if” in the Resident’s differential diagnosis. Some technophobes may fight the inclusion of such A.I., but it is strongly likely to contribute to patient safety.
