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This design focuses on a radically different proposal: improving ICU information tracking with a non-computer interface. It is based on the self-duplication of small, atomic pieces of information and the use of human-friendly record locators, as will be explained in the following storyboard.
Patient contact begins with the paramedics, who have brought with them a basic patient information form:
Upon their initial contact with the patient, the paramedics fill out the patient's basic information, medical history, and their summary of the patient's incident and condition. If time permits, they can attach a Polaroid-type instant photograph of the patient to this form to ensure that the correct record stays with the correct patient.
Upon the arrival of the paramedics at the hospital, the triage nurse on duty opens a new packet of patient information sheets. Each patient information sheet in the hospital information packet consists of rows of labeled, self-duplicating stickers. Any writing on a sticker is transferred by a carbon-paper process to the sheet to which it is attached; this creates automatic duplication of atomic pieces of information, such as diagnoses, drug administration, and surgeries.
In addition, each sticker in a given packet bears the same 4-object code. These codes are designed to be highly human-readable: from just 100 possible objects, over 3,000,000 possible codes can be generated, which allows significant flexibility and error-correction (for example, we can ensure that no two codes for different patients differ by only one object without sacrificing the ability to uniquely identify every patient). The object codes allow doctors and nurses to instantly ensure that every piece of information about a patient truly belongs to that patient, without any of the possible mistakes of misspelled or mispronounced names.
The triage nurses's first step is to fill out one sticker with the date and time for receiving the paramedic patient history:
He attaches this sticker to the paramedic history form. The presence of the unique object code is all that is necessary to unify the EMTs' history into the hospital's information system.
Later, a nurse administers 100mg of aspirin to the patient. She records this information on another sticker:
She can then transfer the sticker to the main patient whiteboard:
The self-duplicating stickers ensure that the patient's folder contains a record of every interaction, diagnosis, or intervention, and the unique labels ensure that patient information is accurately transferred to the correct section of the primary information board.
Each doctor that interacts with Mr. Z can quickly see important information about his status and medications from the main board, and a detailed listing of all events during his stay on the patient information sheet.