Tele-Board MED - Rethinking Patient Files

Dr. Julia von Thienen


Many people feel medical treatments should be improved. In Germany, a new law has been passed in 2013 that points the way.

Cooperation. Doctor and patient shall cooperate as equals throughout the treatment. Thus, it is important to balance out differences in knowledge and to strengthen the patient’s decision-making ability.

Sovereignty of the patient. As a patient, one does not want to be completely at the mercy of the doctor’s. Therefore, the doctor is obliged to explain both situation and treatment options in an understandable manner to the patient. The decision-making authority then lies with the patient.

Transparency of medical records. As a patient, you have the right to access your own medical record. If some piece of content is unintelligible, the doctor needs to explain it.

Documentation. The doctor is obligated to generate a comprehensive medical record that is updated promptly in connection with the treatment.

Error prevention. For patients, malpractices may have dramatic consequences. Therefore, it is important to establish a successful error prevention culture. An essential step is to ensure careful documentation.

Many of those requirements are not fully met yet. As part of the HPI Stanford Design Thinking Research Program, the team of Prof. Christoph Meinel develops a system for doctors and patients that eases teamwork.

All builds on transparency. Important pieces of information from the patient record are depicted graphically, easy to be seen and understood by both doctor and patient. This overview may also help to prevent errors. Even the patient can spot some mistakes, e.g. an incorrectly recorded medical history. In addition, the system helps doctors to create a comprehensive documentation in a very time efficient manner.

Technically, the system is based on Tele-Board, which has been invented and developed at the Hasso Plattner Institute.


Team

• Prof. Dr. Christoph Meinel
• Dr. Julia von Thienen
• M.Sc. Anja Perlich

Lectures

Using Tele-Board to Bring (Some) Design Thinking into Clinics

Date: June 29, 2012
Language: English
Duration: 00:17:40

Why Rethink Patient Files?

Date: April 15, 2013
Language: English
Duration: 00:10:25