A Bicycle for the Clinician Mind

Steve Jobs tells a great story about the Macintosh as a tool to augment the human mind. He highlights how humans create tools to surpass the efficiency of movement of all other living creatures. Not surprisingly, humans without tools get trounced by many other creatures – particularly the condor – who leave us non-winged bipeds in the dust. But a human on a bicycle wins handily. Take that, condors! Humans aren’t necessarily the largest, fastest, or strongest but we are the smartest, and we use our brains to build tools like the bicycle in order to surpass our natural abilities.

Ravi and I are both physicians and computer nerds automating clinical documentation. It strikes us that the electronic health record (EHR) is definitely not a bicycle. It’s not fun, I don’t hop onto one on weekends for a spin, and I certainly don’t find my fitness improving as I log more and more hours using one. Saying an EHR is a bicycle for the clinician mind results in a reluctant chuckle and a bemused head shake. When I’m on a bike, I’ve got the breeze in my face and feel like I’m flying down the road. Trudging my way through the EHR as I try to frantically see patients in clinic… is just not the same.

Adapted from the original source: Wilson, S. S. “Bicycle Technology.” Scientific American, vol. 228, no. 3, 1973, pp. 81–91., www.jstor.org/stable/24923004

The “bicycle for the clinician mind” conveys our goal at PredictionHealth. The electronic systems clinicians use to care for patients should understand what’s happening in the clinical visit and apply their computing muscle to help the clinicians’ days glide by – efficient, smooth pedaling from beginning to end – making sure that every patient gets the best care, every time. 

This requires having artificial intelligence (AI) embedded within the clinical workflow, but as we’ve seen with the pure digitization of the EHR, just cramming more technology into a domain doesn’t necessarily yield a magical experience. 

That’s why we’ve been diligently iterating and striving to keep things simple – a “one-click” experience. We’re building the tools we wish we had when taking care of patients, and talking with our clinician users all the time to make sure they agree!

This is a massive challenge but it’s our mission – to improve patient care while simultaneously helping clinicians feel like this:

What are your challenges and hopes for the future?

What do you wish your documentation system would predict and do for you? Let us know and  get in touch to learn more about PredictionHealth.