When internist Nitin Patel called up
Microsoft is elated by Patel’s call. While physicians' use of tablets is widespread—72% according to Manhattan Research, more than half of the nearly 3,000 physicians it surveyed, used
Patel who doubles as a geek-in-chief at Palmetto Health, one of the largest hospital systems in South Carolina, tried the iPad. He disliked the wait to log into a patient’s chart, the small screen, and the lack of keyboard, among other things. On a Friday afternoon, he drove over to a
William Jennings, Palmetto’s medical informatics officer, was initially skeptical, but Surface won over other doctors. “We’re providing an environment where physicians pick what they want. We want technology to work for us not the other way around,” says Jennings. Palmetto just started a three to six month pilot with 30 physicians, including obstetricians and surgeons, who will use Surface on loan from Microsoft, in their every day practice. The goal is to measure patient and physician satisfaction, as well as impact on productivity, which typically drops when medical providers go digital.
"What Palmetto has proven is that you can run Windows 8 or 7, and have the full features of an electronic health record," says Schmuland, not a lighter version usually offered on an iPad. If so, that would address major complaints by untethering doctors from their desktops, and allowing them to interact more freely with their patients. He says Microsoft is talking to several electronic health record vendors, including Cerner, Epic, and Allscripts about developing applications.
Schmuland doesn't know how many doctors are using Surface, but he's starting to hear more anecdotes, such as Palmetto's. "This is an early wave indicator that Windows 8 is resonating with the industry," he says.
Microsoft sent a crew to Columbia, South Carolina, to film doctors at Palmetto using Surface Pro. Check it out.