The issue list

The first thing you want to know about a patient is what his list of current issues are, so that is what you see first in iotaMed. The entire left side of the screen, if held in landscape orientation, contains a list of the active issues for the patient, and below each issue, the different blocks that have been added for that issue. This left panel gives you the essentials of the patient history and state in one glance.

Adding an issue block

Whenever the patient presents a new problem, or you need a new block on an existing issue for followup, you locate and find the needed block through the template browser.

Synopsis of new block

Before adding in the new block to the records, you see a synopsis of the new block. If it is the one you want, click the plus button and it is added to the issue list.

New block ready for use

After adding in the block, it is immediately ready for use.

Entering data in a worksheet

Adding data in a worksheet is very simple and effective. To enter the most used default string, tap a field twice. If you tap a field just once, a list of the most common selections pops up and you can select any of them and close the list with a single tap.

With the popup list on screen, you can instead choose to open the keyboard for manual entry, or press the record button and speak your text to iotaMed, which will immediately send your soundfile to a secretary for typing out. As soon as the secretary has done that, the worksheet is updated with the new information.

Removing block

If you add a block too many, or you realize you selected the wrong issue, you can simply delete the issue worksheet from the patient's record. All the entered data remains in the system, only the structuring template framework is removed. This is easily demonstrated by simply adding in the same template again: all the entered data reappears. Note that the entered data will always be shown in the linear "records" tab, so it doesn't become invisible as you remove the block.

Another reason to remove a block, or replace it with another block, is when a diagnosis changes as you progress through the workup. You may find that "Headache" really is "Migraine" and switch issue templates to show that. As you do that, all the entered data in the "Headache" template will automatically be reused in the "Migraine" template, if the corresponding items are found in both.