When global technology giant Apple says “there’s an app for that,” they could be referring to the work of Perth doctor Rhys Clark.
The University of Notre Dame Australia medical graduate has developed iDoctor, an iPhone application to assist training medicos to keep track of their professional development and patient caseloads.
The iTunes application allows users to log hospital cases and export them to Excel and other spreadsheet programs.
Dr Clark, who works at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, said once doctors had reached a required number of supervised procedures, it was simple to email and print the spreadsheet for authorisation.
He said he saw a need for junior doctors to keep accurate records of their experiences “on-the-go” and iDoctor provided a toolbox of assorted log entries to enable them to keep their CVs up-to-date with educational and professional development activities.
“As training positions become increasingly competitive and we move towards experience-based credentialling, this app becomes vital in order to keep track of procedures performed,” he said.
“Before the application, I found myself often collecting patient stickers to keep records of cases I had been involved in for my surgical logbook or for follow up.”
During iDoctor’s development phase, Dr Clark asked interns, residents, registrars and consultants to test the application in their particular field. He adapted the application in response to advice provided by colleagues prior to its release on the iTunes store.
Dr Clark said he also received feedback regarding tracking hours worked as many doctors reported they were often too busy to record overtime and were not keeping track of the wages owed to them.
“I have also missed out on many dollars owed to me. Often we will work late or be asked to take extra shifts beyond our normal paid hours.
“In order to keep track of these hours, I also developed a logbook for overtime within iDoctor,” he said.
Dr Clark said he would continue to develop iDoctor as new software and feedback became available.
Since iDoctor’s release in June, Dr Clark said he had been overwhelmed by positive feedback received from colleagues using the software.
“At first, I got a real buzz when I saw people using it on the wards or in medical meetings; however, this is now becoming commonplace,” he said. “Many doctors have told me how useful they find it and lots ask for it to be made more specific to their specialty which we are looking at doing.
“I have plenty of other ideas but at this stage we are just focusing on rolling out this app and having doctors using it in their every-day working lives,” he said.
Part proceeds from the sale of iDoctor will go to Australian Doctors for Africa, a charity providing volunteer doctors and nurses to areas of need in Africa.