Acceptance And Usage of Tablet Computers on Clinical Anamnesis survey

Objectives: The day-to-day duties of clinicians caused an increased use of iPads during recent years which includes the digital acquisition of medical histories. Our study examines the impact of employing iPads by patients to provide an anamnesis, and on the general procedure to deliver a medical history. Methods: Randomly selected visitants of our outpatients' department were requested to present their anamnesis both conventional by handwritten surveys and digital, using an iPad (Apple Inc., Cupertino, USA). Patients were allowed to disclose their anamnesis in one's own words (free text) or to reply to predetermined questions (predetermined text). As software served "Digital impDat Medical History" (Kea Software GmbH, Pöcking, Germany). The obtained informations were statistically analyzed. The second part of our rinvestigation concerned the ease of handling the iPad, the patient's judgement of medical data protection, and whether patients have private access to a tablet computer, such as an iPad. Results: The patients (n = 100, 53 males, 47 femals) were asked to write down their anamnesis using the iPad. 20 probands refused (7 males, 13 females). The average age of participants was 47 years, the youngest 12, the oldest 77 years. Of the 80 patients cooperating only 20 owned or had private access to an iPad. Out of the 80 patients responding, 38 provided a conventional handwritten anamnesis as well as a digital anamnesis (iPad). The free text responses revealed 68 different informations, the reply to the predetermined text yielded 64 different information. 31 patients provided only the digital anamnesis, and 11 persons failed to deliver a medical history by means of an iPad . With regard to the second part of our study 80 per cent of the probands, using the iPad, evaluated the convenience of handling the tablet computer as excellent, 19 per cent as good, and 2 per cent as satisfactory. An almost identical distribution (percentage) of assessments was reported for the implementation of the iPad technology to generate medical histories. With respect to the privacy of medical data 71 per cent of probands expressed a high, 21 per cent an average, and 8 percent a low trustworthiness. Conclusion: The generation of medical histories by means of digital devices, e.g. tablet computers, is well accepted by patients, suggesting the an increased utilization of tablet computers both in medical clinics and doctor's offices. Both the ease of use as well as the implementation of the survey shows an overall positive in the patients, although there are certain concerns regarding the privacy of medical data. An objective evaluation of digital over written medical histories gives an image of different answers. This may be attributed to the new devices such as tablet computers, although further studies are required to objectify this issue. Keywords: Anamnesis, Survey, Tablet, Tablet Computer