There are those clinicians who enjoy, or at least find it helpful, handwriting their progress notes. There are all sorts of studies that show the amazing positive impact writing by hand has on our brains, and how much our writing improves when we do it by hand. From learning to memory to creativity, there are tons of benefits to handwriting.
The problem of course is that if you write something down on paper, but it needs to be in your electronic health record, you may be faced with doing the note twice.
And who has the time for that?
Enter the tablet and stylist.
I know, it’s not brand new technology. But it’s a technology combination that a lot of clinicians haven’t considered, but it just might make sense for those who would benefit from more direct contact with their note taking.
Most, if not all of the current EHR applications supporting psychotherapy will support the technology with the addition of “handwriting to text” applications. Some of these app’s even have the capability for you to develop a dictionary of abbreviations, which would mean things that you might want to use an abbreviation to capture could turn into full words (think writing ‘esp’ when you want ‘especially’, or ‘BPD’ if you want ‘Borderline Personality Disorder’) and you find yourself with a tool that supports the way you think, including your own personal shorthand.
Then, there are those who think, at least a little, in pictures. They want to include a part of a genogram or other non-text entry. While most EHR applications don’t support the ability to add graphics into notes (it’s a data size thing primarily), they do have the capability to attach a file to a progress note. The tablet and stylist would support you creating a separate sketch that can be made into a PDF and attached to the note. Mission accomplished.
Is this tech for everyone? Probably not. There are a lot of people who feel quite comfortable with typing their notes and might find the tablet and stylist an encumbrance. But, for those who want the ability to handwrite their notes, need to use an EHR for their practice, and don’t want to, or don’t have time to enter their notes twice, this seems like an obvious solution to that problem.