Information extracted from a report submitted by Ricoh, intimated that approximately 74 percent of hospitals wielding the power of tablets, particularly medical tablets, to accumulate information, experience higher levels of efficiency, against those who don’t. Against the traditional form of collecting and storing information, patients are more susceptible or relaxed when healthcare providers prance about with their tablets or other mobile devices. Using tablets in a hospital is advantageous for all parties involved, but what about patients? How do they benefit through the use of tablets?

1.Diagnosis/ Medication Education

Quite too often, patients find it a challenge to decipher the elaborate and flowery medical terms conveyed by medical professionals. A tablet, in some cases, has proven to be a mini medical teacher.

What does that mean?

Promoting bedside-friendliness, some doctors were able to roll out their tablets to educate their patients on diagnosis and medications. This was corroborated when an Assistant Professor of Medicine, Henry Feldman, handy with his tablet device, provided a snappy tutorial to a patient on her hip joint.

Additionally, tablets were seen as ideal exhibition tools, as patients were able to peer at test results and images, including X-ray and Ultrasound results! This act got patients involved with what was happening to their bodies and could better clarify to others the gravity of their situation.

Furthermore, tablets are better able to provide education on a patient’s anatomy, which is otherwise difficult to digest. An image does a world of good and is readily assimilated into the patient’s mind. Using these devices to teach patients about their bodies is awe-inspiring. Against merely uttering a patient’s dilemma, showing them on tablets made a world of difference. They actually understood candidly what was portrayed on that small but powerful screen. The tablet is quite the educational, illustrative and instructional tool indeed!

2.Access to Medical History in Emergency Situations

A hospital is no place for loitering. Everyone is on the go, busy and taken up with health affairs. A tablet complements the hectic nature fostered at hospitals. They provide information while mobile and are seamless to carry around. Diametrically opposed to computers and laptops in extremely boisterous hospitals, tablets are a doctor’s best friend and tool to carry around. Conventionally equipped hospitals are rarely able to attest that tablets are ideal, as they’re more accustomed to desktops on rolling carts. This is certainly not the most efficient method, particularly in buzzing hospitals. A doctor needs to have their patient’s medical history on-hand in cases of emergencies. A desktop on a rolling cart just won’t do, especially in these critical situations. Waiting for an available desktop has proven prodigal and even lethal to the patient involved.

A tablet is the ideal solution to replace this predicament. Doctors are able to pull up a patient’s medical history on fly, wherever they’re situated in a hospital. Introducing the handheld is a dandy solution to replace the robust and cumbersome nature of desktops on rolling carts.

To add to the merits patients derive when tablets are used in their care, more time is spent rendering medical treatment, as Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) are accessed while doctors roam the halls. Once a doctor enters the room, treatment can be meted out, against spending time scanning through a patient’s medical history. That is absolutely more attention rendered to patients.

Tablets can also be used on rounds. Once new data is entered in the system, it fully synchronizes with the hospital’s EMR. Without a qualm, using tablets for pulling up medical histories have proven effective and saves precious time.

3.Less Risk of Overcharges

Implementing Electronic Health Records (EHR) cost hospitals a pretty penny – it is very expensive. However, if $300 or less is spent on a tablet and issued around the hospital to healthcare professionals, the cost is lessened substantially. In fact, there are companies pining to offer discounts to fully furnish hospitals with tablets.

4.Vast Availability of Apps

Thousands of medical apps are at the disposal of doctors and medical professionals. To be precise, over 97,000 medical apps are available at present, and can be accessed on major tablets such as Kindles, iPads and others. Thorough research can be conducted using these apps and readily available tools to improve existing processes and tasks.

Tablet usage is redefining how hospitals operate, and changing the way patients view healthcare.  As time marches on, experts predict that they will one day become as common as thermometers and the classic stethoscope.

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