New Technology Educates Patients and Records Consent
End user: Medical Centres
System: Patient education and barcoded consent service
Benefits: Assurance that all consent regulations have been met
 Overview
Surgery patients are understandably nervous and unsure about their upcoming treatment. It is the doctor's role to inform the patient about their treatment, making sure they are fully aware of the procedures, risks and after surgery care. The physician also has to make sure they meet all the consent regulations: the patient must fully understand all possible implications of the surgery, they must sign their authorisation and the doctor has to keep a record of the patient's consent.
Issues
Since patient time is usually limited, doctors are under a lot of pressure to fully explain procedures to patients and answer all their questions. Doctors have to educate the patient, put them at their ease and must not forget any of the details. With increasing time constraints however, this is not always possible. Doctors are looking for a way that ensures they cover all the issues in the shortest time span. Having to keep the consent for 30 years by law, they also want a foolproof system when it comes to archiving.
Solution
Medical centres have resolved the limited time and informed-consent dilemma with animated, multimedia and multi-technology from Vital Link.net. Instead of doctors explaining, video animation walks the patient through the entire operation process.
During viewing patients can ask questions, picked up by a microphone, which are answered afterwards. Throughout the session the patient is also given simple questions to answer. At the end, doctors review the questions that the patient answered incorrectly.
Once the medical procedure is fully understood, the patient signs a signature-capture pad that ties their official consent of understanding with the specific video. A SATO CT 400 thermal transfer printer then prints a label showing a Code 39 barcode containing specific information about the session, with the patient's signature. This label is placed in the patient's file maintained in the medical office. The whole process takes under 30 minutes.
 Vital Link's Kevin Ryan said they chose the SATO CT 400 printer because of its speed and small size. The printer runs at 6 inches per second and fits easily into tight medical environments. For legal reasons, they also needed a label that could be stored for 30 years and the CT 400 could produce these labels. The printer is also easily networkable and has an anti-microbial cover, making it perfect for medical centres.
Once the informed-consent process is finished, the digitised signature, the actual educational session, a video capture of the patient watching and responding to the session and the physician's participation are transmitted over broadband to Vital Link.net headquarters. Here sessions are stored up to 30 years on pre-barcoded magneto-optical disks. The software system ties the session's barcode number with the disk's barcode. To retrieve the session, the doctor simply sends a copy of the patient's barcoded consent form and Vital Link.net scans it to automatically locate the recorded material.
Benefits
Vital Center helps surgery candidates understand the medical procedure they will undergo, optimises doctors' limited patient time. It also ensures the doctor and patient that all informed consent regulations have been met. Doctors are protected against lack of pre-procedure information and future legal entanglements. The CT 400 barcode system also means the medical centre has a quick and efficient archiving system, simply storing the barcode label as a reference to the tapes which are kept at Vital Link.net's secure headquarters.
For more information on our CT 400 click here |
