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Few would argue that converting a paper filing system into an electronic format is a huge step up. Whether you are a small business organizing your receipts, or the head of a household putting together your shopping lists, having an easy to use, searchable, electronic record is ideal. In the simple case of going shopping my iPhone enables me to keep electronic lists of the items I think of throughout the week that I will need to pick up when I go to the stores. That list can also be emailed to the Misses if she is going to a particular store I needed something from. I also have an app that stores all of those little discount cards that every retailer uses now, so there is no need to weigh down my wallet, or key chain with an abundance of plastic. The point I am making is that I use these things because they make not just my life easier, but that of my girlfriends, the cashiers and everyone who doesn’t have to wait longer in line as I search for the right discount card. That is supposed to be the function of Electronic Medical Records, or EMR. While EMR is an outstanding achievement in healthcare, many clinicians and patients are feeling a cold shoulder during interactions with one another. “The whole point of EMR is to simplify the process and to enhance and facilitate communication,” Dr. O’Malley said. “But in order for that to happen, EMR needs to be more user-friendly and more responsive to the clinical needs of patients and clinicians.” Citing the difficulties of using EMR while creating a welcoming environment and pleasant experience with their patients, some clinicians are hoping EMR systems are redesigned with the Clinician-Patient user experience seamlessly integrated.

To read more on this complication of EMR, click here for the NY Times article, by Pauline W. Chen, M.D.

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(image sources | Ars Technica, Gizmodo, Wooster Collective, NY Times, eVolo, Bits Blog)

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First Look: Banksy Releases Footage From Exit Through The Gift Shop | Wooster Collective

Doctors and Patients, Lost in Paperwork | NY Times

Winners 2010 Skyscraper Competition | eVolo

At French Conference, Virtual Reality Meets Reality | NY Times Bits Blog

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I love seeing the simplistic beauty that is the imagination of a child grow with an individual, leading to technological benefits for society. This recent Wired article on making monitoring of one’s health fun describes just such a tale. I remember being a lad in elementary school when half of my class was playing with those beeper like toys that mimicked the needs of an infant. They needed to be fed, changed and all the other tasks an infant would require done, or they would die. No doubt those kids who once played with these toys are now applying those same tactics of making health care for an imaginary child fun, into making one’s own healthcare fun. While this may seem like a simple idea, hooking a monitoring device up to one’s belt to monitor heart rates, blood sugar levels and beyond, tying it into an almost game like activity is ingenious. As a member of the Facebook community, I receive hundreds of updates a day of friends needing help building a barn in Farmville, or having rocket launchers to sell in Mob Wars, indicating that people love the structure of bettering their lives, even if they are, in these cases, fake. Applying the desire that exist in people into a way to better their actual lives is what makes this concept brilliant. I will inject one factor I hope will be incorporated into these devices as they become more a part of everyday life, the ability to shut them off from time to time! One doesn’t always need to know that what they are doing is bad for them, after all what would be the fun in life without a little self-destruction!

Be sure to read the Wired article posted after the jump to learn more about this emerging technology.

In the mid 1990s, a craze swept Japan and crested its way onto American shores: Kids were going crazy for the Tamagotchi, an egg-shaped digital pet. Every few hours, users would press a couple buttons to feed their Tamagotchi, play with it, or clean it up. The game was simple, but intensely rewarding. Users cried when their Tamagotchis got sick or died; they were elated when they were able to raise a healthy, happy pet. More than 70 million have been sold.

The genius of the device was that it was both simple and rewarding: It took just a few clicks a few times a day to keep your TamagotchisTamagotchi in good health. In other words, it rewarded vigilance over neglect, maintenance over obsessiveness (you could overfeed your Tamagotchi or smother it with too much love).

A decade later, there’s a new kind of Tamagotchi out there. And it’s us.

Continue reading the Thomas Goetz article on Wired.

Source | Wired Magazine

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