Apple's iPad was released in the United States and Canada in 2010. While reviews have been positive, some iPad users listed the things the iPad couldn't do or didn't do as well as the iPhone. Apple's iPad is a competitor to the many e-readers, tablet PCs and netbooks currently available such as the Sony eReader and Amazon Kindle. Dr. Joshua Schwimmer, blogging at Healthline, compiled some useful initial information in iPad Reviews and News Roundup. Recent issues raised about using iPads are summarized below. (SeeiMedicalApps.com for current reviews of applications for the iPad.)
In 2012, Pappas, a clinical librarian, talked about the role that an iPad has had on helping physicians find information on the rounds and in clinics. This is something that physicians might want to keep in mind to integrate health librarians into their rounding activities.
iPad is positioned between a smartphone and a laptop -- but is more portable and lighter than a laptop
Question for physicians: is this a supplement to iPhone or a replacement? Do you need both??
Handsome 9.7-inch interface enhances viewing of patient records and medical images, which are problematic on the iPhone
physicians will like iPad’s finger touchscreen design for data entry, or if not they can always use an external keyboard (optional)
for day-to-day use, the iPad doesn’t do anything better than an iPhone (or laptop/desktop)
But what is the iPad's potential to enhance patient care?
wider screen and better resolution is welcome; but if the iPad doesn’t fit into lab coats, forget about doctors using it
iPad has writing capabilities, but must be good enough to replace the way doctors enter records and take clinical notes on the wards and in clinical settings
Apple is already pitching iPad in US hospitals as replacement for old physician clipboard; but cumbersome to carry
inexplicably, iPad does not have mouse support; making navigation and usability a challenge for some functions
can't take pictures or do telemedicine conferencing; a major drawback for on the go clinical practice
no multitasking so cannot run several applications at a time like iPhone
One of the most exciting hopes for the iPad is that it will be a robust tablet for the creation, editing and review of Electronic Medical Records (EMRs). There are already some ways of accessing EMRs on the iPad, and at least one fully-fledged native iPad EMR app.
Dr. Chrono's EMR app is the first EMR app to run natively on the iPad. Though the app is still in its early stages, it is already easy to see the potential for these types of applications in the healthcare setting.
Macpractice's EMR requires a VNC connection from the iPad to gain access to EMR records that are maintained on other machines. They are in the process of designing a native iPad app.
Other medical record apps are surely yet to come. It remains to be seen, however, if these apps will be able to stand up to patient privacy concerns. Without the ability to run several apps at once, as well, it may be difficult to use consistently in a practice setting.
Software issues
Like the iPhone, which the iPad shares a similar environment (iPhone SDK, or software development kit, version 3.2 onwards), Apple tools run their own software downloadable from its App Store. Software is written by developers who pay for a developer's license on registered devices. The iPad runs almost all third-party iPhone applications, displaying them at iPhone size or enlarging them to fill the iPad's screen.
Health apps
Carter’s Encyclopedia of Health and Medicine developed for the iPad by mogeneration gives the look and feel of a print encyclopedia with ease of an iPad app; features 12,000 entries provided by Medwords that in print would equal 1,800 pages of content. With all of this content, the app weighs in at around 50MB.
