My Doctor is Hip! Her Small Netbook Laptop rocks!

May 3rd, 2009 Print This Post Filed Under General

On my last visit to my doctor, I entered the office uninspired. It was a normal yearly checkup and a physical. Nothing extraordinary about that. However after my doctor entered the room I was staged in, my eyes perked up like a 7 year old girl trapped in an American Girl store.

In she walked with a brand new shiny HP netbook. It was beautiful! I of course had no interest in any medical condition she wanted to question me on. Instead I bombarded her with questions on her small laptop. You see….she carries it with her all around the office. It contains a custom Visual Basic application that is the front end of her office’s server farm. The netbook weighs only 3 lbs and she whips around with it like its a second phone. All my patient data is only 3 clicks away. She showed me how she uses it and enters in notes, saves them, and uploads it back to the server. Wow! I had no idea she was so cool.

Evidently the "old days" of taking physical notes about patients are over…at least for her practice. It got me thinking…This is a GREAT use for netbooks. These small laptops are perfect for a large doctors office.. She says she sees about 30-40 patients a day…imagine how much paperwork that would be using the "old way"! Now she literally walks from one waiting room to another taking along her netbook. She takes down medical notes, updates information, and can even pull up real time medication information from the office’s wireless internet connection. Very nice use of technology…wouldn’t you agree?

If you’re a small business owner, a student, a business traveler, or even a doctor, these new class of ultra portable laptops are impressive. I mean if my doctor can run her entire practice using these little gadgets, then I’m sure others can make use of their portability, usability, and impressive features too.

It turns out my trip to the doctor was far more enjoyable than I thought. In fact, I can’t wait to go back next year to see what great technology they are using then. You might say my yearly check will be "Just what the doctor ordered"