Numed Capture: patient photos straight into your clinical system

Originally published in GP magazine .

Written for GP magazine around 2008. This is the version I submitted - the published article may have been edited.

One of the reasons I first started writing IT articles was that I have always been jealous of IT journalists who got to try out new stuff before it was on the market and had contacts in the big companies who asked their opinion. Unfortunately Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, hasn’t rung me to test the rumoured Mac Touch. However, Simon Healy, joint managing director of Numed, did contact me about testing a new product he is launching and asked for my opinion.

Numed, a leading supplier of medical equipment for 20 years, have decided to create their own product called Capture, which they hope will fill a gap in the primary care market: namely the smooth and seamless taking of photographs of patients and storing that photo in your clinical system. Of course you can currently take a photo with a camera, print it and scan it in, or go through the rigmarole of uploading it to the computer, editing it if needed and then attaching it to the correct patient. However, this is very laborious and not something you can just do in a consultation. Capture aims to make this so easy you can just do it as part of a consultation.

Capture is being developed for EMIS and SystmOne and is basically the same on each platform. I have had a sneak look at the EMIS version. Capture is a USB-powered webcam-style camera with built-in illumination that can be turned on if needed. It comes on a desktop stand and can easily be manoeuvred into different positions. It is a fixed focal length with autofocus and will focus from infinity to about 10 centimetres, allowing a whole body shot to just a mole.

Once launched, the software grabs the active patient’s details from EMIS and presents you with a video view in the main window. When you have got the lighting and positioning right, which you can check by watching the appropriate window on screen, you press the go button. This takes several pictures and displays them to allow you to choose the best one. A window then pops up that allows you to choose a diagram of any part of the body and annotate it with a marker to show where the photo was, and you can add comments. When you click OK the picture is saved - as easy as that. I offered some advice on coding this image to ease finding it later, which is hopefully going to be incorporated.

Overall I found it very easy to use. The attached image is split into three: the photo, the diagram of where it is and the comments section. The quality of the images is quite good but not as good as an expensive SLR camera with ring flash. One of my partners, a dermatology GPSI, loved it despite this because it was so easy and fast to use and would record general shape, colour, size and position very quickly, and he could just leave it on his desk all the time and use it at will, knowing he had a record to compare things against in future. We also tried it in the leg ulcer clinic where it was superb at recording the ulcers, allowing the nurses to monitor progress. I doubt every clinician will want one, though I am sure Simon would be happy if they do; however, I can see any dermatology-interested GPs having one on their desk and possibly each practice having one in the treatment room, where even the most technophobic nurse could be relied on to take a photo.

If any other manufacturers want my expertise, please get in touch.

BOX:

Webcam-style USB-powered camera with integral lighting that lives on your desk and can be used to take photos of interesting signs.

Average image quality is offset by ease of use and practicality.

Primarily aimed at dermatological conditions but has a variety of uses. Don’t let your nurses see it as they will want one for the leg ulcer clinic.

Guide price: contact Numed.