Re-imagining Doctor reports

Making them beautiful and more useful

How many of have been through this?

Looking at the doctor written report and thinking, I can’t read this hand writing or I wish it was presented in a better way. This was exactly what was going through my mind every time I saw a doctor report.

When I visited a Pediatrician on a health checkup for my daughter, the doctor had written the medicine dosage on a report for us to follow. But often I got confused with the handwriting, I used to wonder was it 6ml or 8 ml. I should say, my wife used to interpret it much better as she was paying attention to the doctor and had a good memory. But here it was me thinking, there has to be a better way.

On another visit to a pediatrician, my daughter was prescribed a medication, and after going home, we had given the medicine to my daughter at the prescribed dosage. Within a matter of 15–20 mins she had rashes develop over her body due to the side effects the medicine was causing. It took me almost couple of hours of followup and a visit to the Clinic to get the revised medication. I also doubt if doctor had recorded this side effect, which could be useful for other physicians prescribing the same medication.

Doctor reports are boring to read and are often designed by people from the medical industry. Though they contain very useful information to treat the patient, this information is often presented in a very poor manner that doesn’t inspire patients to look at the report. Even while looking at it, it’s often difficult to find the information that you are looking for.

Dynamic

Once the doctor writes a report, it is often static. Wouldn’t it be great if a doctor could get feedback from the patient on side the effects a prescribed medicine or whether the care plan is working ? What if the doctor could read the feedback and update the patient’s medication/care plans in real time ? Such easy and quick feedback loops would help many patients to report side effects there by giving the doctor greater insights into prescribing the right medication. It would also be a delightful experience for the patient to obtain updated report in near real-time without having to go through the doctor’s clinic and explain everything.

Other niceties

Set reminders

Wouldn’t it be great if we can get reminders for medication, along with medicine details and dosage, right from the doctor report ? This could help us stay on course and avoid missing a dose.

Feedback from doctor

What if we can clarify doubts with the doctor on specific aspects of the report without leaving the report or calling up the doctor’s office ?

Ordering Items

After obtaining the doctor report, if there are recommendations for certain types of food, dietary supplements or any self care measures that require us to buy items. Wouldn’t it be great to order it right from the report ?

Feedback loop

Doctors rarely get feedback from patients. If a patient doesn’t return, an assumption is made that the treatment plan had worked for them. This might not always be the case, as patient might have gone to visit another doctor. Patients could be rewarded with Karma points to review the doctor report and rate it. If the doctor could know whether the treatment plan had worked or not or where he fell short, the doctor can update his treatment plan for the upcoming patients and thereby improve his own understanding while also improving patient outcomes.

Summary

Doctor report has been long overdue to be reimagined. With proper implementation, it can not only reduce time required for a doctor to create one but also help the patient to navigate through report easily while providing feedback to the doctor in near real-time. At CurieDoc.com we are working to re-imagine doctor report.

We would love to hear what you think, also if you are interested or would like to be the first one to be notified, please drop me an email at prahaladm[at]gmail[dot]com.