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NeuroBoard: An Educational Tool for Patients and Physicians
University of California System: University of California, San Francisco
posted on 01/12/2012
Neurologists explain brain diseases using words and hand gestures with the occasional reference to patient education diagrams. Depsite these efforts, patients and families often do not fully understand their illness or the neurologist’s approach to diganosis and treatment. Further, currently used patient education diagrams are often lacking clinical relevance or interactivity because physicians are not able to annotate them while talking to patients.
Suggested Uses
- Install in all patient rooms utilized for neurology or neurosurgery care in hospitals and clinics
- Potential for expansion to neighboring fields (e.g., CardioBoard, GastroBoard) and tablet devices
Advantages
- Cheaply manufactured and easy to use for physicians and nurses
- Increases patient satisfaction and understanding which are revenue generating for hospitals and clinics
- Actively being used as a clinical tool at UCSF, one of the top five hospitals for neurology in the nation
Detailed Description
A neurologist at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) has invented the NeuroBoard. It is a handheld whiteboard with an embedded map of the nervous system that may be annotated by physicians using a dry erase marker during a patient-doctor encounter. The front of the board depicts all the clinically relevant structures of the nervous system from brain to muscle. The back of the board depicts the major arteries to the brain particulary useful for describing stroke and other vascular diseases. Using this device, neurologists, neurosurgeons, and neurology nurses are able to communicate their message in a more visual and interactive manner. Early testing shows that this leads to increased patient satisfaction and illness understanding.
Currently, the NeuroBoard is being installed as a clinical tool in all patient rooms of the neurology intensive care units at UCSF medical center and San Francisco General Hospital. Moreover, it will be installed in the outpatient clinic rooms at the San Francisco General Hospital and the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center. The inventor will formally evaluate the usability, satisfaction, and patient understanding in these diverse settings.
File Number: 22213
Other Information:
Inventor Information
Amar Dhand, MD, DPhil
Dr. Dhand is a chief neurology resident in the UCSF Department of Neurology. He received his AB in neuroscience at Dartmouth College, MD at Harvard Medical School, and DPhil in educational studies at Oxford University where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar. He has a track record of sustainable innovations including co-founding of the Darmouth Undergraduate Journal of Science, and co-chairing the first Ivy Leaders Summit (a conference for ivy league students and business leaders). His current research is at the interface of neurology and education as he focuses on community neurologists’ processes of diagnosis, technology use, and social networks.
| Copyright: | ©2012, The Regents of the University of California |
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This innovation currently is not available for online licensing. Please contact Debbie Alexander at University of California System: University of California, San Francisco for more information.
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