Digital Pen and Paper Technology

Digital Pen and Paper Technology

ABSTRACT

Background: The Syria crisis has forced more than 4 million people to leave their homeland. As a result, in 2016, an overwhelming number of refugees reached Germany. In response to this, it was of utmost importance to set up refugee camps and to provide humanitarian aid, but a health surveillance system was also implemented in order to obtain rapid information about emerging diseases.

Objective: The present study describes the effects of using digital paper and pen (DPP) technology on the speed, sequence, and behavior of epidemiological documentation in a refugee camp.

Methods: DPP technology was used to examine documentation speed, sequence, and behavior. The data log of the digital pens used to fill in the documentation was analyzed, and each pen stroke in a field was recorded using a timestamp. Documentation time was the difference between first and last stroke on the paper, which includes clinical examination and translation.

Results: For three months, 495 data sets were recorded. After corrections had been made, 421 data sets were considered valid and subjected to further analysis. The median documentation time was 41:41 min (interquartile range 29:54 min; mean 45:02 min; SD 22:28 min). The documentation of vital signs ended up having the strongest effect on the overall time of documentation. Furthermore, filling in the free-text field clinical findings or therapy or measures required the most time (mean 16:49 min; SD 20:32 min). Analysis of the documentation sequence revealed that the final step of coding the diagnosis was a time-consuming step that took place once the form had been completed.

Conclusions: We concluded that medical documentation using DPP technology leads to both an increase in documentation speed and data quality through the compliance of the data recorders who regard the tool to be convenient in everyday routine. Further analysis of more data sets will allow optimization of the documentation form used. Thus, DPP technology is an effective tool for the medical documentation process in refugee camps.

weiterführende Links

Die gynäkologische Notfallpatientin – Teil 1

Der Artikel stellt das typische Präsentationssymptom des gynäkologischen Notfalls – das unklare Abdomen der Frau – anhand von Szenarien aus dem prä- und innerklinischen Bereich vor. Die genaue Notfallanamnese und -untersuchung werden für die gynäkologische Patientin modifiziert dargestellt

Quellen:

Digitale Dokumentation in der ZNA

Background:

Some of the advantages of implementing electronic emergency department information systems (EDIS) are improvements in data availability and simplification of statistical evaluations of emergency department (ED) treatments. However, for multi-center evaluations, standardized documentation is necessary. The AKTIN project (“National Emergency Department Register: Improvement of Health Services Research in Acute Medicine in Germany”) has used the “German Emergency Department Medical Record” (GEDMR) published by the German Interdisciplinary Association of Intensive and Emergency Care as the documentation standard for its national data registry.

Methods

Until March 2016 the documentation standard in ED was the pen-and-paper version of the GEDMR. In April 2016 we implemented the GEDMR in a timeline-based EDIS. Related to this, we compared the availability of structured treatment information of traumatological patients between pen-and-paper-based and electronic documentation, with special focus on the treatment time.

Results

All 796 data fields of the 6 modules (basic data, severe trauma, patient surveillance, anesthesia, council, neurology) were adapted for use with the existing EDIS configuration by a physician working regularly in the ED. Electronic implementation increased availability of structured anamnesis and treatment information. However, treatment time was increased in electronic documentation both immediately (2:12±0:04h; n = 2907) and 6 months after implementation (2:18±0:03 h; n = 4778) compared to the pen-and-paper group (1:43±0:02 h; n = 2523; p < 0.001).

Conclusions

We successfully implemented standardized documentation in an EDIS. The availability of structured treatment information was improved, but treatment time was also increased. Thus, further work is necessary to improve input time.

Links:

https://rdcu.be/bOg5v

https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-019-4400-y

Lucas B. Schlitz P, Schirrmeister W, Plissee G, Walcher F, Kulla M, Brammen D: The way from pen and paper to electronic documentation in a German emergency department. BMC Health Services Research 19:558 (2019)