The iPad, OK… the “Tablet”, is a total game changer in my opinion. Someone working in sales for a medical device company can, in seconds, call up presentation material or technical pocket guides to answer any question their customer might have. And there’s something about the brightness of a screen that makes material like that pop! Immediately, the game has changed for a salesperson – they don’t need to carry around a briefcase with a bunch of printed materials anymore. And they can serve their customers better and faster.
What if Surgeons were armed with tablets that could educate patients about their surgery in the office or at the bedside? What if Public Health nurses could show students the effects of smoking through an interactive “app”? What if an Emergency Room Physician could call up a patient’s file on their iPad… and use drop-down menus to input the blood test they’d just taken… which would send a cost amount, over the network, to a Health Economist tabulating hospital costs in real time? What if each patient was given an iPad when they came in the door of a hospital and they used this to “Facetime” with a centralized call centre (a pooled resource of professionals!)? Interfacing with a healthcare professional right away! Instant triage. …..Endless options.
I call them gamechangers.