Are you puzzled by the appearance of these strange medallions or ‘what have yous’ that are cropping up everywhere?  Well, you need a QR reader application to scan it and view what ever it is the ‘whatchamacallit’ wants you to see.  It’s a QR code, a gateway to more information accessed via the internet and your smart phone.

Bear with me and shift your attention to this setting, a procedure unit in a large teaching hospital. A nurse is attempting to reconcile the medication list of an elderly Chinese woman.  Her son is present and looking preoccupied.  He’s doing something on his smart phone.  The Chinese interpreter is skillfully trying to help determine the names of  the patient’s blood pressure and stomach medications with little success.  The nurse is me.  I have a part time position as a hospital nurse!   It keeps my feet in both doors.  While I make every effort to ascertain an accurate list of medications, it can be very challenging especially if the patient is elderly and speaks a different language. In the hospital, medication bottles aren’t as readily available as in the home and I know how hard it is to reconcile medications in the home!  Hold on!!!  The son has lifted his head and called my attention to his smart phone.  He demonstrates a reverse pincer grasp and gives me his phone.  OK, maybe he’s showing me a picture of his kids…who knows.  As I ‘reverse pincer’ his phone something remarkable happens.  OPEN SESAME!  Out popped a picture of a doctor’s prescription for lisinopril.  He takes the phone back and then, another picture of a script for omeprazole!!  OMG!  LOL!  Gr8!  I ask the interpreter to clarify that this is his mother’s medication and that she’s taking them as ordered.  Confirming that my elderly patient isn’t taking any vitamins, supplements or herbals, the med rec is now complete.

What a terrific experience!  Technology to the rescue!  What if we harness this or that app, social media or Twitter so we won’t have to fritter?  There seems to me to be a future in creating an app of some kind to facilitate communication across the healthcare landscape.  Picture a QR code on each pill bottle.  Click on it and you get medication information you can transmit in a flash.  Seniors have cell phones now.  Some are more adept at using them than others, I know.  [My mother doesn’t use her voice mail function because she forgets her password and only turns her phone on to use it for emergencies:-/ ]  A family member could take a picture of a medication list or pill bottle(s), email it to a doctor or show it at the emergency room for example.

Are you as excited as I am about the possibilities?  If you have a story about using technology or social media and patient care, I’d love to hear from you.  Post your story below and spread the word or even start a trend.

Debra Bertrand, CHAMP Facilitator