Ottawa: Replacing clipboards with iPads?

[mbene085]

I think many people are making mountains out of molehills and arguing about unrelated ipad issues.

 

They're talking about using it to replace the COW (Computer On Wheels) for rounding on patients. The COW is used to look up labs, clinical notes, etc. They don't usually type up anything on it; in fact, the list of patients is already up on OACIS so they don't even have to type in patient names, just click on them.

 

Having a touchscreen interface and large screen for viewing that information is all they need. Saying you might as well get an iphone is ridiculous because looking up labs on that small a screen is inefficient. Lack of flash support means nothing since OACIS isn't flash-based.

 

Really, the ipad does everything they need from a device for rounds. If you want to talk about cost effectiveness, look up how much the COWs they are replacing cost first (PC plus stand with giant battery). I seriously doubt this is more expensive that getting upgraded COWs.