Drs. Nick Patel (right) and John Gould III (left) both work at Palmetto Health in Columbia, South Carolina. Dr. Patel, a physician known to his colleagues as a bit of a geek, had tried bringing in his iPad to work. “The problem with the iPad is it just doesn’t have the horsepower to do the complexity of our EMR. You have to go to a remote sign-on which is extremely slow”, said Dr. Patel. Other doctors in the clinic were equally frustrated trying to use bulky, wall-mounted computers in their exam rooms. They felt the computer was coming between them and their patients. But things began to change for the doctors after that serendipitous meeting in the Best Buy store.

Now Dr. Patel and several of his colleagues are doing all their work using Microsoft Surface Pro. Tripp Jennings, VP Medical Informatics Officer at Palmetto Health, has already noticed a difference. “We’re getting better documentation of quality data and it’s not taking all the time away from actually caring for the patient. The impact that has on an organization is truly powerful”, he said.

But perhaps Dr. Patel made the best case for Surface Pro at Palmetto Health when he talked about productivity. “On average we probably can see at least two more patients per day”, said Dr. Patel. “I’m able to walk out of the office feeling accomplished for the day that I've done all that I needed to do. Within the first week, I noticed that I was going home earlier than I ever have.” 

To learn more on what clinicians at Palmetto Health are saying about using Surface Pro in the exam room, please watch this video.

Before closing out on today’s HealthBlog post I’d like to add some other exciting news. One of the most compelling set of apps for busy clinicians will soon be coming to the Windows 8 family. AirStrip has announced that their popular cardiology and OB apps will soon be available on the Windows 8 platform. That means your Surface Pro, Windows Phone 8, and all manner of other smartphones, tablets, ultrabooks and other devices running Windows will be even more useful in all manner of clinical settings. And AirStrip is committed to offering all of their apps and services on Windows 8 devices in coming months. Here are some sample screen shots to give you an idea of what’s coming.

Two doctors walked into a bar…….. I mean a Best Buy store. And, both doctors walked out with a new Surface Pro. Now they and some of their clinical colleagues are walking around all day with big smiles on their faces knowing their patients are getting better care, and they are getting back something really precious to them--time. What could be better than that?

Bill Crounse, MD                   Senior Director, Worldwide Health