One of the most noble uses of iPads, nowadays, is to help hospitals in the world. Even though the devices have been in use for medical purposes for a few years, not all locations can provide healthcare professionals and patients with access to tablets.
As the TechCrunch, Apple wants to drive the use of devices so that they are available to all patients.
The vehicle says that the program is already being tested in some hospitals in the United States, such as the Jacobs Medical Center, at the University of California, San Diego; the MetroSouth Medical Center in Chicago; and Cedars-Sinai, in Los Angeles. In this last institution, even, patients had access to their medical information previously, but everything became much more functional with the use of iPads.
Without the iPad, doctors and nurses go through a pile of paper and only then write duplicate information on a whiteboard, often found on the back wall of the patient’s room. Thus, there can be mistakes and, as Shaun Miller, a doctor at Cedars-Sinai, said, there is often a lack of space for the team to write, which ends up leading to confusion or lack of information for the patient.
The gadgets they are also great allies for nurses, who do not have to worry about creating two versions of the same document, one for themselves and the other for the patient, with relevant information. On the iPad, the patient can access a series of educational videos, as well as learn about his situation through reports with all the details.
Another incredible application of devices in hospitals is the possibility for parents to interact with their newborn babies by FaceTime when a physical approach is not yet feasible:
New parents are using FaceTime on unmodified iPads to interact with their newborns, who may be sick or premature. Because these babies need to be kept isolated from the outside world (and their germs), parents cannot normally see them in the first few days of birth. But, with what nurses refer to as “BabyTime” (FaceTime for babies), parents can interact with their little ones while they wait.
Allowing patients to access their own information and, in the latter case, to interact with babies (and I venture to say, even with patients separated by contagious diseases), really is a wonderful use of this type of device. In addition to helping patients, the work of health professionals is greatly optimized.
Too bad the reality, for now, is the application in the USA. If here in Brazil there is not enough infrastructure even to have a good medical device in hospitals, let alone pay for Apple tablets for each patient and doctor. But, as hope never dies, we will continue to dream.
