EMR Article - Tablet PCs and Electronic Medical Records

Which is the best Tablet PC for physicians? What is the difference between slate-style and convertible-style Tablet PC's? How long is the battery life? What type of CPU is best? Will using a tablet improve my quality of care?

Tablet PC's are the hottest technology in the world of Electronic Medical Records and truly deliver on their promise to provide physicians with an electronic solution for their patient charts. Here are some answers to some of the most common questions regarding Tablet PC's.

Which is better: Slate or Convertible style Tablet PC's?
Tablet PC's come in 2 styles, the slate-style and the convertible-style. The primary difference is that the convertible-style comes equipped with a built-in keyboard while the slate style does not. Using a slate-style Tablet PC requires the user to use the stylus/digitizer pen as the primary user interface. If a keyboard is needed the Tablet PC must be connected to a docking station connected to a keyboard. While the convertible still has full Tablet PC capabilities like hand-writing recognition, speech recognition and mobility, convertible-style Tablet PC's tend to be thicker and heavier as their keyboard is simply unnecessary weight when being used in Tablet PC mode; this weight difference is usually about 1-2 pounds. In most cases the slate-style Tablet PC is a better choice as it is lighter (usually 3.5 lbs), easier to carry and offers more advanced features. However if you think you will be using the Tablet PC out of the office, or need to frequently use a keyboard the convertible is a more robust option.

How do Tablet PC's connect to my network?
Almost all Tablet PC's these days come equipped with built-in wireless networking. In order for a Tablet PC to send or receive data from your Electronic Medical Record Software in real time you must be connected to a wireless network. In order to do this you will need a Wireless Access Point which will enable you to connect the Tablet PC(s) wirelessly to your wired network. A high quality Wireless Access Point should be purchased as its proper functioning will be a major determining factor in how well your network performs. Business-quality access points from Cisco, 3COM, NetGear, D-Link are all good options and generally cost between $150-$400.

What type of CPU is best for Tablet PC’s?
Tablet PC's come equipped with two types of CPUs, the Intel Celeron and the Intel Centrino w/ Pentium M technology. While the Celeron is significantly less expensive, it lacks some of the important features that come with the Centrino including integrated wireless, faster performance, improved stability and advanced power-saving controls. The wireless chipset included with the Centrino platform are generally high-quality wireless cards that function in both 802.11b and 802.11g environments. In a physician office setting, heavy use of the wireless is expected so picking a Tablet PC with good wireless capabilities is very important.

How long is the battery life on a Tablet PC?
Battery life ranges from 2 hours to 6 hours depending on the model. While many of the Tablet PC manufacturers claim to have higher battery life they often do not take into account how the Tablet PC is being used. For example, the built-in wireless networking can suck up a lot of battery life as do large applications such as Electronic Medical Records Software. Even under these circumstances almost all Tablet PCs have a minimum battery life of 2 hours and some of the Tablet PC's by Motion, HP, Fujitsu and Electrovaya can achieve consistent battery life of over 3.5 hours under heavy use.

How can Tablet PCs help physicians deliver better patient care?
Tablet PC's provide physicians with an endless amount of information right at their finger tips. This translates into better patient care because the physician can access a more thorough patient record, access patient education databases, access medication databases to aid in prescription of medications, document at the point of encounter and send prescriptions/lab requests electronically using a more secure, less error prone method of transmission.

Which Tablet PCs are best for use in physician offices?
While there is no clear choice when it comes to purchasing a Tablet PC there are 3 models that have become very popular among physicians and are generally good choices. The new Motion LE1600 Tablet PC by Motion Computing and Fujitsu ST5000 Tablet PC by Fujitsu are arguably the best Slate-Style Tablet PC's on the market; both range between $2000-$2500. The Toshiba Portege is a great option as a convertible Tablet PC. The new Acer C200 and IBM Thinkpad Tablet PC's are also great convertible-style options.

Anxiety - What is an Anxiety Symptom?

Am I having a heart attack? Am I dying? Or is it anxiety? Many symptoms of anxiety mirror symptoms of other illnesses. This is because the “fight or flight” response is triggered in anxiety attacks and the body will respond as if it is threatened. The heart will race; the breathing will become shallow, sweats will breakout over the body to keep it cool in preparation for flight, these are all signs of anxiety, or an anxiety attack. Attacking anxiety back and regaining control over your reflex responses will help reduce the number, frequency and severity of your anxiety symptoms.When an Anxiety Symptoms is Harmful and When it Isn'tThere is a wide range of anxiety symptoms that may be no more than a mild feeling of uneasiness and as intense as extreme fear. In some cases, a little amount of anxiety is good and normal and it may even help to improve a person’s performance. There are features like having heart palpitations or a racing heart as well as a lot of sweating that point in the direction of being an anxiety symptom. Symptoms such as irritability and lack of concentration as well as having strange thoughts and having extreme mood changes are psychological symptoms.Treating Anxiety Stress SymptomsOne may wonder as to what the causes of anxiety symptoms are and who the people at greatest risk are. The answer lies in the fact that anxiety symptoms are a result of anxiety disorders which may occur due to a change in the way amygdale, which is a small organ in the subconscious brain, reacts. This is also known as anxiety switch. For treatment to be effective, there is a need for concentrating directly on these symptoms and the treatment should be aimed at the root causes of any anxiety disorders, which in other words, is an inappropriate reaction of the amygdale.It may be noted that everybody may have experienced anxiety symptoms at some point of time in their lives and most are able to effectively deal with such situations. When there is a lot of unusual rise in the adrenaline levels in the blood it sets off a chain reaction of normal but wrong reactions which results in powerful anxiety symptoms that greatly affect the person afflicted.There are also instances of some people experiencing symptoms when there is no obvious cause and these are known as free-floating symptoms that can be discontinuous in nature or may continue over a longer period of time. Some even have situational anxiety wherein the anxiety symptoms can be correlated with particular situations.One may also wonder whether anxiety symptoms are harmful and the answer is certainly not. They do not cause harm to the person even though they elicit a sense of horror and scare the person but in effect anxiety symptoms are not harmful, being exaggerations of normal body sensations and reactions. It bears repeating that to treat anxiety symptoms, one has to address the root cause, which lies in the amygdale, where anxiety is created and stored as well as sustained.

Hypertension - Forget The Salt And Spice Up Your Life

If you have hypertension, or are worried about developing high blood pressure, then you will probably know that one of the first things you need to do is to reduce your intake of salt. However, that is not always as easy as it sounds.

Salt has been around for thousands of years and is used in most food products both as a preservative and to bring out the flavor of the food. This means that when it comes to cutting down on salt you have two problems - trying to avoid buying foods which contain a lot of salt and finding an alternative way to add flavor to your meals.

Fortunately today both the government and food manufacturers often come to our rescue when it comes to helping us to choose food products which are low in salt. As far as the government is concerned almost all foods today are required to carry nutritional labeling, which includes the amount of salt, or sodium, which the food contains. At the same time, more and more manufacturers are now producing sodium free, or very low sodium, varieties of many of our favorite foodstuffs.

But, when it comes to good old fashioned home cooking, what do we do with all those recipes which call for a pinch of salt?

Well, a pinch of salt is probably okay here and there. After all, we are not talking about cutting salt out of our diet altogether, but simply about reducing our intake. But the pinches soon add up and so, while a little bit of salt in some recipes will not do any harm, you need to look for ways of replacing this salt wherever possible.

One answer is to turn to spices and herbs or to low sodium seasonings such as onion powder, garlic powder and sodium free bouillon.

Of course you will need to experiment to see what you like and do not like, but start with a few simple ideas like seasoning and marinating fish and meat well ahead of cooking to bring out the flavor. You will also find that there are all sorts of things that you can add to your food at the table to add flavor. For example, try squeezing a little fresh lime or lemon juice onto your vegetables.

Cutting down on salt to help lower hypertension, or to prevent you from developing high blood pressure in the first place, is not too difficult but it will take a little bit of thought and some experimentation.