iPads in Emergency Health...

So it's been an exciting (read: stressful and emotional roller coaster ride) morning, with me taking my first ride in the back of an ambulance with Ms 1 (no details, except all is well now and thanks for all who were concerned).

After confirming all was well and took some time to settle myself... I had a chat to the ambulance officer riding up back with me who was madly scribbling notes on a clipboard about their processes to put that info into some system... Do you have to double entry into your system, how much time does it take etc? (Background: I was involved on a project with the emergency response for the local state police department years ago, hence I was interested in the perspective in a similar but equally distinct industry).

To my interest he mentioned that they scanned in the sheets to archive in their system *AND* re-key into their database system the details from the sheets filled out. Also more to my interest, he mentioned that they (Ambulance) are in the process of developing a system involving iPads which will be trialed towards the end of this year...

Was interested in seeing what the user (Ambulance Officer) response to the project was, he mentioned that it was positive for most people as it will cut down the re-entry of the data into their database system, and will cut down on transcribing errors (hard to read handwriting etc.), but then there were also concerns about reliability of data entry especially in the time-critical work of ambulance officers (nothing beats the reliability of a pen and pad, or more so a bunch of pens for redundancy :P) . I also joked about the ruggedising of the iPads, and also exposure to bodily fluids which might be an occupational hazard of being lugged around in the back of the Ambulance.

Interestingly, it will be integrated into their existing dispatch system, so that it will be all tied into their systems, which might sound a bit ambitious, but they have lots of gain from this...

Anyways, I thought cool, they will save some time with double entry etc. so good luck to them, but the penny only dropped after spending some time in the Emergency Department of a children's hospital...

I swear I was going to thump the 3rd Emergency Department nurse who asked me for the history of the past 2 days and also what happened this morning, to which I told the Ambulance Officer, the first Triage nurse, the 2nd Triage Nurse, the paediatrician who attended, and this last nurse (who seemed a bit grumpy in response to my frustration of re-telling the events)...

So I hope the trial of this project by the Ambulance Department is successful, and more importantly I hope that they allow the information to be shared transparently with the hospitals, so that there is no need to re-tell the important information multiple times, (and in turn increase the chances of missing some information), and let the health professionals get on with their important jobs, rather than struggle with the process and hopefully the new technology/systems in place will be a help rather than a hinderance...

Sure this is intended more as a distraction post for me (it's been a really stressful day for me as a dad to say the least), and any useful information/opinions or statements presented is purely accidental (and I apologise in advance... :P), but this kinda stuff really excites me about the use of technology/systems more than just playing with the newfangled devices we now have access to.

I'm all for awesome games like Angry Birds and the like (timesinks), and business productivity apps which save you time and make you more money, but think there is something about using all this technology in something as worthwhile as actually saving lives, or making the quality of life of people much better gets me all excited... :D

We have come so far, just hope we carry on pushing the limits of technology to worthwhile causes...

Where's my personal jetpack? :) (Which incidentally is over-rated... cos I don't have one yet...)

Cake 2 - The Fulfilment of Purpose

There's something about good photos of a cake fulfilling it's purpose in life, which is to be cut up and eaten by many a hungry child or adult with a sweet tooth...

Oh the humanity! :)

(Photo credit: My little bro-in-law David)

Noooooooooo!

Wifey gesturing that I'd have a similar fate if I decided to step out of line...

'Tis only a flesh wound...

Customer Service Done Right!

Yes, I'm gobsmacked... Customer Service *with* the customer service...

Wifey got a call from a call centre and was immediately suspicious (due to my constant drumming of being cautious of unsolicited calls), but it was for me from my credit card provider.

It was from the fraud team enquiring about a suspect online transaction that was automatically blocked late last night which turns out being legitimate (I was trying to renew a Flickr Pro account), but I guess it turned on some warning bells in their system, and it was automatically blocked from going through. That was frustrating initially for me, but in hindsight probably a safe position for the bank to take since the whole Sony PSN fiasco etc. I actually retried like 5 times, a few from the iPad (hrm, maybe a iPad safari browser issue) and more from my Mac. No luck, so decided sleep was a better option... Although it turned out my thumbs decided they needed a workout and snuck in some more time to get more Portal2 achievements... ;)

Interesting points:

• They first mentioned what the transaction was for which verified for me it was actually the CC provider.


• They then apologised for not calling earlier when it happened, but decided it being after midnight in Australia (EST), that it would be rude to call to wake me up... *golf clap*


• They were pretty spot on in how they verified my identity (as I wouldn't have given much over the phone anyways), they asked me to confirm *only* the year of my date of birth and postcode.


• When I confirmed that it was actually me trying to put through the transaction, they proceeded to make adjustments to my account profile (I assume check a box which states 'Likely to put through dodgy online transactions past midnight' and 'Really doesn't like being woken up whilst in deep sleep'), so that other similar transactions (from Yahoo/Flickr or similar) would go through next time.


• When I further queried what if I tried to purchase other things online which does not sidestep the newly modified rules and get blocked again (like shamefully staying up late at night whilst wifey sleeps and browsing the Apple Store and secretly buying things), they provided a direct number to the fraud team so that I can sort it out promptly... "Yes, I really do want to buy the latest iDevice... Yes, I know my wifey put a block on these purchases, but I'm the primary cardholder so just do it!!!" :)

I found it really interesting as they were looking out for my interest (well, theirs indirectly really), proactive in resolving this issue (I wasn't going to call them until maybe another 5 failed attempts or so), and provided low friction to sorting it out (like simple verification without too much concerns from me about given them too much information), and providing a simple way for me to sort this out in the future...

I'd throughly recommend them, however I won't be posting who they are as it'll just open doors for me to be a target of social engineering attacks... :P but if you know me personally and would like to know, just DM me via email or twitter, or *shock horror* phone or in real life...

So if you are in the service industry, have you changed/evolved your client facing business processes to react to more recent concerns from clients regarding privacy/security when you contact them to make it a surprisingly pleasant experience for your clients?

Food for thought...

Cake!

No, it's not a reference to the Portal game, but rather an interesting mini project wifey and I embarked on last night. We decided to actually make the birthday cake for Ms Almost 6's party, instead of buying one like the past 5 years...

Wifey baked and I decorated, so effectively she did all the hard work, but I'd claim the glory for the decorations... unless of course it turned out poorly, in which case it was all her effort... :P

And just to prove it wasn't a bought one, thought I'd post progress pics... although I still could have bought it and just snapped pictures as the cake maker decorated it... ;)














And was it worth it? Guess a picture says a thousand words!!! :D






Bonus is leftover icing makes for really sweet Play Doh... :)