Improved Human Machine Interface Usability for Clinical Healthcare Providers to Enter Data into Electronic Health Records

Electronic health records (EHRs) provide benefits, including ease in storing/retrieving/sharing medical information, especially when patient care is shared among a number of medical personnel.EHRs have a significant drawback in that the medical care provider must turn away from the patient to look at a computer screen and remove their hands from the patient to enter data.In a clinical setting this has a negative impact on the patient/doctor interaction and in the chaotic environment of field medicine, this can prove catastrophic.A hands free system would benefit field medics as well as clinicians, allowing them to examine or work on a patient while entering information into their EHR.SA Photonics has developed MedAssist, a hands free system consisting of a head mounted display (HMD) and a novel method of selecting and entering data.In addition, MedAssist has a built in camera to allow for telemedicine consults and documentation of patient injuries for combat medics.The HMD is positioned in the care providers direct line of sight, permitting eye to eye contact.MedAssist is designed to interface with the NettWarrior smartphone and can be used with a variety of medical apps including those providing drug references, triage, and medical training.