This month's Golden Nugget is the Digital Camera. Yes, the simple digital camera has a place in the biomed's toolbox (or pocket). I think digital photos are superior to standard film photos because they cost nothing to take; are immediately available to review; can be manipulated to crop unnecessary portions and adjust lightness and contrast; can easily be e-mailed and shared with many people; and are time and date stamped so the sequence and time are known.Applications for the digital camera in the Biomedical or Clinical Engineering Department include:1. Photographs of repair parts: These photos can be e-mailed to a supplier or another biomed for identification and/or sourcing. For adequate quality, take a number of shots with various lighting, flash, and focus options.2. Troubleshooting: How about taking a picture of the error message on the screen of a patient monitor instead of copying it? Your accuracy cannot be disputed, nor can the error message be questioned. The photo can be e-mailed to the manufacturer and printed as a learning tool for colleagues.3. Incident investigations: When responding to a possible incident involving a patient, it is important to preserve the scene as you found it. Nothing does this better than photographs. With digital photography, you can take many pictures in a very short time. If you use movies to document incident investigations, I have been told that the sound should be disabled. Check with your legal eagles.4. Public relations: Photos of your staff can be incorporated into a document introducing your department to nursing or a new administrator to helpestablish your department as a collection of people instead of an anonymous service department.5. Documentation of unsafe conditions: Biomeds can document unsafe or undesirable situations for future educational presentations. This should never be used to focus blame, but as a tool to show real-life situations and suggest ways to improve them.6. Copy of documentation: I have seen maps, signs, or documents that I wanted a copy of because they had valuable or interesting content on them. Out comes my trusty camera and I snap off a couple of shots that I can crop and print for my records.7. Meeting notes: I often take a photo of a white board after a meeting to document the notes that were made. We are at the mercy of a scribe who attempts to record the important points, but drawings, relationships, doodles, and colors aren't usually captured. Photos are great for helping remember how a topic developed and recalling discussions.8. Digital scanner: Documents can be scanned in, but often a scanner is not readily available or a document is the wrong size to be easily scanned. A camera is just the thing to turn business cards or lecture notes into a permanent electronic document.
展开▼
