3 ms·

I bet a lot of what the paramedic friend types is repetitive and industry specific. Could speed things up with some macros/text expander type of functionality.

I bet a lot of what the paramedic friend types is repetitive and industry specific. Could speed things up with some macros/text expander type of functionality. The multi presses reminds me a lot text messaging back before smartphones. Most kids could type quickly without really looking and using just a thumb.

JshWright 6y ago
Hi, paramedic friend here. The whole "paramedic notes" thing was just a very dubious pretext. I was looking at a small notebook page of notes after a call (no patient identifiers, not that it would have mattered), and was curious if anyone would be able to make out a single word. Stavros is Greek, so he was the obvious choice. That's where the story in the post picks up (with a little creative license). In reality, laptops are quite common on ambulances, and get used during many (even most) "routine" calls. The issue with note taking is with more critical patients, and there are a variety of reasons why a notepad and (cheap, disposable) pen are the best solution. The biggest reason is because I can use them with a gloved (potentially contaminated) hand and not worry about how to decontaminate them, since I'll just throw them out. This device has many of the same failure modes as the laptop (namely, it would be impossible to clean). A lot of medics will skip the pad and just write on the non-dominant gloved hand. Personally, my favorite technique during especially busy calls is to put a strip of 2in/5cm wide cloth medical tape on my thigh and just write on my leg. But "practicality" wasn't really the point here...
- jacquesm 6y ago
  Voice dictation and transcription?
  - JshWright 6y ago
    There are a few challenges I can think of there. The most obvious is that there are things that are accurate and relevant, but I might not want to point out to a patient in the moment (a combative drunk patient might take offense to my documenting the presence of multiple empty liquor bottles, for instance). Obviously this information is part of the patient's medical record, and available to them in the future for review if they want, but there are things that I don't necessarily want to speak out loud in the moment. The other, more subtle, reason is that free form handwriting gives me a lot of flexibility in on-the-fly formatting to emphasize important information, etc.
    - jacquesm 6y ago
      Ah good points, totally did not think about the environment where you are taking notes. But then again, you could do that quite subtly: "Those are some nice empty whiskey bottles there, wow, let's see..." maybe you could use time as an input factor as well wait for a while counts as a linefeed wait for a longer while counts as a 'tab back' that way with some practice you could indent without doing it explicitly
- StavrosK 6y ago
  > (namely, it would be impossible to clean) So now I have to add an IP65 rating? These requirements would have been better communicated at the start of the project, sigh...

JshWright 6y ago

Hi, paramedic friend here. The whole "paramedic notes" thing was just a very dubious pretext. I was looking at a small notebook page of notes after a call (no patient identifiers, not that it would have mattered), and was curious if anyone would be able to make out a single word. Stavros is Greek, so he was the obvious choice. That's where the story in the post picks up (with a little creative license). In reality, laptops are quite common on ambulances, and get used during many (even most) "routine" calls. The issue with note taking is with more critical patients, and there are a variety of reasons why a notepad and (cheap, disposable) pen are the best solution. The biggest reason is because I can use them with a gloved (potentially contaminated) hand and not worry about how to decontaminate them, since I'll just throw them out. This device has many of the same failure modes as the laptop (namely, it would be impossible to clean). A lot of medics will skip the pad and just write on the non-dominant gloved hand. Personally, my favorite technique during especially busy calls is to put a strip of 2in/5cm wide cloth medical tape on my thigh and just write on my leg. But "practicality" wasn't really the point here...

jacquesm 6y ago
Voice dictation and transcription?
- JshWright 6y ago
  There are a few challenges I can think of there. The most obvious is that there are things that are accurate and relevant, but I might not want to point out to a patient in the moment (a combative drunk patient might take offense to my documenting the presence of multiple empty liquor bottles, for instance). Obviously this information is part of the patient's medical record, and available to them in the future for review if they want, but there are things that I don't necessarily want to speak out loud in the moment. The other, more subtle, reason is that free form handwriting gives me a lot of flexibility in on-the-fly formatting to emphasize important information, etc.
  - jacquesm 6y ago
    Ah good points, totally did not think about the environment where you are taking notes. But then again, you could do that quite subtly: "Those are some nice empty whiskey bottles there, wow, let's see..." maybe you could use time as an input factor as well wait for a while counts as a linefeed wait for a longer while counts as a 'tab back' that way with some practice you could indent without doing it explicitly
StavrosK 6y ago
> (namely, it would be impossible to clean) So now I have to add an IP65 rating? These requirements would have been better communicated at the start of the project, sigh...