A nurse using a Palm V to reference possible drug interactions. Nothing new here, but it could be done a little more efficiently. To me it is penny-wise, pound foolish to try to do this sort of thing on older technology. I believe that the nurse in this article ought to have access to better mobile technology that interacts directly with the office around her. Then again, this is just one geek’s perspective.

The doctor’s office used Dell PCs either running Windows 2000 or Windows XP with the older interface enabled; I’d bet the former situation. The folks up front booked appointments on paper and in the computer. All patient records were paper (which, for all I know, is legislatively required). I counted three computers up front and one in each of the three exam rooms/doctors’ offices that I saw. I can’t say that the PCs were networked to a server or simply hooked up peer to peer. Consistently, in JupiterResearch small- and medium-business surveys, companies with 10 or less employees don’t have servers.

I wondered how much more efficient the office might be with more automation and how that could make time to see more patients or streamline the arduous task of filing insurance claims. Take that Palm handheld used by the nurse practitioner. Why not a Palm or Pocket PC handheld with Wi-Fi capabilities? That database could be kept on the device, but also access a deeper data store on the office’s server. There she could pull up the patient’s records, see if he or she is taking any other medication or has allergic reactions and make the proper prescription.