Scribe laptops

Any topic not related to ZGE.

Moderator: Moderators

Post Reply
User avatar
y offs et
Posts: 418
Joined: Wed Apr 22, 2009 4:26 pm
Location: BC, Canada

Scribe laptops

Post by y offs et »

Scribe laptops

Today I saw a newscast about a hospital in the States that had a piloted a program some years back called a medical Scribe.

This is a medical student of sufficient training that walks around with a Doctor on his rounds in a hospital. The scribes sole duty is to carry a laptop computer and write all that he hears and observes about each patient examination. This program has two benefits. First it gives the student hands on experience with day to day occurrences plus being mentored by a qualified physician. The other benefit is that it frees the Doctor to do his thing with the patient and not with his notepad. This speeds up the process allowing the doc to see more patients more effectively in a day, thus paying for the scribe. Another benefit is the program has inspired people to choose medicine as it is a lot more interesting than dry textbooks. This program has been such as a success that it is spreading in use throughout hospitals in the States.

The reason I'm writing this is I noticed the scribe had to balance the laptop on one hand like a beer waiters tray while using the other to hunt and peck the keyboard. This sent my imagination racing on to all the things I don't like about laptops and how to fix them. I'll put my ideas in point form.

1) Laptops are notorious for overheating the battery. That carrying hand could get toasted.

2) One hand hunt and peck typing is extremely inefficient.

3) So, ideally the laptop should be hung at belly button height from a shoulder harness.

4) With an adjustable screen angle for different body types.

5) Of course, the ergonomic layout of the keyboard should be changed to the split configuration that allows the hands to approach from the sides, rather than straight on.

6) And while we are at it, when are we going to get keyboards with fully programmable keys? By this I mean the character displayed on the key itself is changeable. For the English language (my most familiar mode) it has been long proven that QWERTY is a relic from the past that is extremely inefficient and Dvorak type layouts are much more effective.


Thank you for providing this apple box for me to rant from. :)
"great expectations"
User avatar
VilleK
Site Admin
Posts: 2274
Joined: Mon Jan 15, 2007 4:50 pm
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Contact:

Post by VilleK »

I agree walking around with a laptop is very unpractical. I guess this is why everyone in sci/fi series have been using iPad-like devices for ages ;)

Image
Post Reply