Use of Technology tools for teaching in the Clinic! The EMR way

 by Dr. Anthony Vipin ,L V Prasad Eye Institute

Technology is evidently becoming an integral part of our personal lives today. As medical professionals we are increasingly expected to adapt to the latest forms of delivery of healthcare, especially documentation of patient care and clinical records.

Electronic Medical Record Systems, popularly abbreviated as EMR are at various stages of implentation around the world today. While we see a more refined approach in the developed nations, the sheer numbers in the developing nations is an uphill task for implementation.

Nevertheless, the variety and the sheer numbers add rich dividends in the long run for high quality research and statistical analysis in the developing countries. We have started implementing our Home grown EMR and wanted to share with you all how we have integrated Teaching into the EMR.

The following users interact with our EMR which enables teaching at various levels
- Consultants
- Fellows
- Residents
- Optometrists

1. The structured forms in various departments are crystallized from years of expertise of the practicing Ophthalmologists. This enables teaching opportunities to all users as they understand the correct format of Clinical Evaluation for various diseases.

Structured detailed forms

2. Ability to view various protocols of disease management serves as a great tool to update one’s knowledge. It also aids in clinical decision making in certain instances.

3. We have intelligently incorporated various PDFs and Flash Tools which serve as excellent educational resource. Ex: Color Vision Charts, Classification Systems, Drawing Tools with various canvases.

Integrated PDFs

Flash Tools

4. Allowing the User to be creative in documenting figures has made it more exciting for us. Standardized Canvases and Color Coding has helped train the students in correct representation of diagrams during clinical evaluation.

5. The use of Mandatory functions while saving the form has helped the user understand the importance of taking certain History. Ex: If Diabetes Mellitus is checked in the personal history, the documentation of Evidence of Diabetic Retinopathy in retinal examination becomes mandatory.

6. The ability of Media like Photos, Videos incorporated into the EMR system adds in a rich experience to the users while counseling patients and explaining plan of management.

Images and Video

7. Prompting the user during Refraction value entry serves as an effective way to correct mistakes during power entry of spectacles. Mentioning the correct signs and axis and automatically calculating the transpositions serves as a simple way of training the users.

8. As the Institute has patients coming from different parts of the Country and the world, the ability to communicate effectively with the patient during History Taking is crucial. Our EMR incorporates the common Language sentences to enable better communication.

Currently eyeSmart is managing a range of centers from a Tertiary Center of Excellence, Secondary Centers in rural areas to Urban City Centers of L V Prasad Eye Institute, India.

The ability to refine the system further to assist the caregiver in delivering cutting edge documentation is what drives us to build better functions and health management systems.

To make Learning and Teaching Ophthalmology in the Clinic more fun and enjoyable is our Goal using Technology!