HIMSS News
A Perspective on Alternative Data Capture Devices - The Digital Pen
by Drew Nietert, CPHIMS, Member, Digital Office Task Force
The invasion of the EHR and peripheral digital data systems has happened and continues to engulf healthcare at a high rate. There are many promises by the industry, and while a number are coming to fruition, the promise of faster and better data capture remains elusive for many implementations.
Luckily, many options exist to help capture data more accurately and faster. These options vary from the type of computer (laptop, computer on wheels, slate, tablet) to device interfaces for automatically capturing data from weighing scales to EKG units. The focus of this article is the digital pen.
What is a digital pen?
Digital pens come from several manufacturers, such as LiveScribe, LogiPen, NextPen, Satori and Shareable Ink. They write just like a regular pen, are a little thicker than most pens and are equipped with a camera and USB port to capture input digitally. Once the provider has completed taking notes, the pen is docked and the data is uploaded to the provided software. This is where the real magic happens. All of the data the pen captured is uploaded and the user can review it as it was written. Depending on the software, the user can also search the handwritten text – similar to how a search engine searches the internet.
Not all digital pens work well with EHRs. In my research, I only came across two that are ready – The Satori/NextPen and the Shareable Ink solutions. They are designed with the ability to take the input from the pen and populate discrete fields of an EHR. I interviewed Roy Feague from Satori to discuss the benefits of a digital pen for a provider. Here are some of the highlights:
- Face-to-face communication
- Greater EHR adoption from physicians hesitant to implement the EHR
- Ability to draw on a piece of paper and have it automatically populate the EHR
- Anyone can use it – no training needed; it’s a pen!
- Reduces TCO of an EHR, as laptops are not required
While the pen offers many advantages, it’s important to confirm this type of technology doesn’t interfere with the proper adoption of an EHR. In most cases, a digital pen should help. There are several things an interested party should note:
- If a physician’s writing is illegible to people, it will be illegible to the pen.
- Long narratives in handwriting typically invalidates the purpose of an EHR
- The physician must be willing to go into the EHR for more complex notations that are not covered on his sheet
From pen and paper to digital records - to pen and paper and digital records – I don’t believe we have made it full circle yet! I do think this technology could help a lot of physicians with a better patient experience and more accurate data collection.
Drew Nietert, CPHIMS, is with JHD Group in Addison, Texas.
