The augmented patient chart: Seamless integration of physical and digital artifacts for hospital work

Even with the introduction of computer technology, paper-based artifacts remain ubiquitous in hospital settings. The need to manually transfer and update information from the physical to the digital realm is a common practice among hospital staff, which, although usually well managed, at times becomes a source for errors and inconsistencies. This paper presents an augmented patient chart system that preserves the use of paper and allows capturing information directly to the system through the use of a digital pen. An evaluation of the system with 22 volunteers indicates a significant reduction in the number of errors while reading information, a significant increment on the accuracy while annotating data, as well as a trend towards less time spent while annotating data on the digital paper. Based on our results, we argue that the design preserves the advantages associated with paper while increasing the availability of information and its trustworthiness. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007.