Accenture To Test Digital Patient Charts

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Doctors and nurses typically refer to a paper chart on a clipboard when they need to check on the status of a patient. Accenture Technology Labs, the research-and-development unit of IT services provider Accenture, is trying to move the patient chart into the Information Age by digitizing the information and making it available on a secure Web site. One challenge: Doctors and nurses feel comfortable using pen and paper, and old habits die hard. Getting health-care professionals to change requires technology that's "easy to use and adds value without disrupting established processes," says Ivan Montet, a senior manager at Accenture Technology Labs.

Accenture has developed a prototype patient-charting system that features a digital pen, special encoded paper, a digital camera, and a computer to transmit the data from a patient's bed to a central server that displays it on a secure Web site. The digital-charting system, which Accenture says requires no special training to use, will be tested in U.S. and European hospitals in the near future.