Complete disappointment ?

[Spielor]

Hi

I just purchased the ipad. I love it to hang around at home on the couch and surf - what in fact i am doing right now.
Apart from the fact that i have a laptop already and that too much surfing takes too much time i purchased it for another purpose.

I am a dentist and the idea of purchasing the ipad was the following:

1. The nurse takes photos of every patient before i see them using a dslr, macrolens and ringflash
2. The images go wireless with the eye-fi card to the computer.

So far so good

3. Now the perfect way was to have the ipad using an app to autoimport images from a folder on my mac. As there doesnt seem to be such a thing i found an app which at least lets me manually upload photos to the ipad wirelessly. Not perefect but ok.
Now the problem is that there seems to be no way to create photoalbumscin the ipad. This really sucks as due to patient confidentiallity i dont want anyone to see photos which are of other patients. Is there a way to create photoalbums in the ipad?

4. I want to show the oictures to the patients and explain what i found. Perfect would be an app which lets me quickly step through the different photos and lets me scribble on them. On the mac i used omnidazzle for this.
I found an app which lets me use a bluetooth mouse so controlling wouldnt be a problem but i didnt find an app which lets me scribbele onto photos. There are a few but they dont allow me to scribble and move image forwardcand backward i was even hoping to mabe have some controlscover brightness and contrast on the mouse (xrays) but i already forgot about this because simple scribbling is not even posible. Or is it?
Do you know of an app which can docthis?

Then it would becgreat if the scribbles could be sent via email or printed. But i guess i am already asking for too much

Help appreciated


Kind regards

Jens

 

[col.bris]

Welcome on board I totally understand your problem. One way would be to open an mobile me account upload pictures to that account which you can access from the iPad.
Apple - MobileMe - Share your photos in a beautiful web gallery.

http://www.ajidev.com/iannotate/

This is a round about method but works by print as PDF your picture, I used t his. The other day for a presentation it was excellent. Some paint programs may offer annotate however I have no other options that I can recommend

 

[SallySparrow]

You could always get a dropbox account and app to access your pictures on the iPad.
Apps like sketchbook pro will let you add the picture as a layer and draw on it.

 

[Spielor]

thanks for the answers.
i will try sketchbook pro.
no need for mobile me or something similar. i can do it at the moment but i need too many clicks on the computer.
the nurses would not be able to do this (probably) and it is a bit uncool to have the patient in the chair waiting while i am sitting on the computer and clicking around - i guess if it doesnt work fluid then it is better not to use it - looks unprofessional.
kind regards

jens

 

[iPadCharlie]

With all due respect doc...

It sounds like you bought the iPad with a particular application in mind without even knowing if it was capable of performing the task you had in mind. This seems to be a common mistake with some people who buy an iPad because the biggest problem with the iPad is... that it is made by Apple. What is Apple's "claim to fame"? Computers of course! This could easily lead people to presume that the iPad was just some sort of slick new laptop or netbook in a cool new package. It isn't any such thing. It is what some people refer to as a consumption device primarily made for consuming content from various sources.

The one thing that concerns me, however, is that you fear that you will look "unprofessional" or 'uncool" to your patients if they see you clicking around on your computer while they are in the chair. This is 2010. All of my doctors (including my dentist!) and all of my wife's doctors and even our veterinarian have computer terminals in the exam rooms and I really don't think about it too much any more.

My father was an MD for 40 years and so maybe I have a different image of what medical professionals are supposed to be. Being "professional" and being "cool" to me is being able to treat my medical condition or address my concerns in a timely manner. Computers are everywhere and your patients know this. Personally, I think you are far more concerned about this than your patients are!

 

[Spielor]

hmm maybe i didnt explain my thoughts correctly.
i work in an environment which heavily relies on computers and it.
digital xrays and 3d scans are things i have to deal with every day.
the surgery works paperless and has computers in every room
what io meant is it looks unprofessional if you need too many clicks to get these things working.
in terms of photos: importing in lightroom, editing, exporting as jpg, uploading to the ipad, importing in sketch app on the ipad ...
these are far too many clicks. it does look unprofessional as the patient sits in the chair and is waiting.
i would rather not use the ipad than doing this. it looks professional and sophisticated if you finish the exam, take the ipad, open the app and start explaining but for this some tasks have to be automated which at the moment does not seem to work properly.
of course i assumed that the ipad can do something like this as its main purpose is as you already said consuming data in which form ever. i expect this thing to work and integrate 100 % in my workflow. what i dont expect it to do and what i think it is not made for would be hand;ling 3d files, large patient databases and things like this but uploading and displaying photos should be the only task (besides internet, music and movies) this little thing should handle properly.
for my plans exist solutions alreay but all of these solutions rely on a screen on the dental unit. in my country there are very strict regulations on this. you can not just take a cheapo dell screen and stick it to the unit. these screens have to have certificates and have to be tested every 12 months. and as with everything which is labeled medicine or dentistry these things cost a fortune.
it seems as if i have to train the nurse who takes the photos to do the job.
it would just be really nice if there was a way to manage photos on the ipad the same way music is handled then the whole thing would work.
companies already offer apps which integrate in the dental software but i dont use any of these programs yet.
one solution a step further was to use arperture instead of lightroom but i am happy with lightrroom and dont want to change.

 

[SweetPoison]

The one thing that concerns me, however, is that you fear that you will look "unprofessional" or 'uncool" to your patients if they see you clicking around on your computer while they are in the chair. This is 2010. All of my doctors (including my dentist!) and all of my wife's doctors and even our veterinarian have computer terminals in the exam rooms and I really don't think about it too much any more.

ITA here. I pictured myself in my dentist chair and he pulls out an iPad? That would be very cool and I don't think unprofessional at all!

It IS a matter of time until that happens more and more. Be the first!

 

[Bullseye]

Hi Doc,

Why not VNC into your Mac from the iPad? I use Jump to do this all the time at work which works great. Seems like you have a wireless setup which means all your photos will stay on the Mac and secure since you can set up a password to access them. Plus the nurses or admins can place them in specific folders for you. Check out Jump in the app store and there's also other VNC clients as well but this works great for me. Can also access a Windows PC if you need to.

 

[Spielor]

no. of course it would look professional but just IF THIS WORKS STRAIGHT AWAY. if it takes me a minute or so to click around it is kind of lame. the data has to be on the ipad before i grab it.
there is no way to do a sync using itunes as it requires a wire and it kind of syncs all the photos and doesnt allow me just to create one more folder with the name of the patient and to add just his or her photos.
there is no question that this would be a great thing. i found a bluetooth mouse app that i can point at things and "moderate" what the patient will see without having to touch the device and i also found something which allows me to import photos into the ipad wirelessly. so far so good.
now what i definitely need is the ability to create folders on the camera roll because there is no way that i can give the ipad to a patient and the patient might be able to recognize his neighbour with a completely rotten set of teeth.
so as i said... using the device YES YES YES
but it has to work smooth, without technical issues and too much time on the computer preparing.

 

[Spielor]

Hi Doc,

Why not VNC into your Mac from the iPad? I use Jump to do this all the time at work which works great. Seems like you have a wireless setup which means all your photos will stay on the Mac and secure since you can set up a password to access them. Plus the nurses or admins can place them in specific folders for you. Check out Jump in the app store and there's also other VNC clients as well but this works great for me. Can also access a Windows PC if you need to.

what ecatly means vnc?
i found an app which lets me grab images from my mac which runs a host app (probably a ftp server and the ipad running a client) but i have to store the images in the photoroll to open them in the sketch app and it doesnt allow me to create folders which prevent the patient seeing pictures of the patient before or even worse my girlfriend in bikini on our last holiday lol.

 

[Spielor]

hey
thanks for the tip with the vnc.
if i understood right i could use vnc to display the content of a program running on my mac on the ipad.
so i could use the software i am used to, my wacom tablet and the scribble app and the patient would basically see a mirrired version on the pad without any photos actually being on the pad.
hope i understood right because this would solve all my problems.
gonna chack this out now.

thanks for the tip!

 

[j0yful]

I think it's like the team viewer app. You can access your laptop or desktop just as long as those three have wifi access. You can take out your iPad,access your laptop remotely. Click on those images from whichever folder you have them. There's a free version of it on app store.

 

[MattIM]

Dear Spielor

When you figure out how to get this technology working, would you PLEASE, reply back here with information on what you did? I was @ my dentist's office this past Thursday--he is almost as automated with images as you are and thought the iPad was the perfect tool to show patients where he needed to work, etc. He does pre consults with a Mac to show how a procedure will effect someone's smile.

He had heard about the iPad but until I came along to show him my iPad and what it could do--I actually spent more time with him than with my hygienist! I thought I'd get a break on my fee but hey, my dentist needs to buy a couple of iPads.

 

[Spielor]

it would be really nice if you could arrange some contact (if he is interested in it).
my email is
vertreterATdrkuehnemann.co.uk
thanks

jens

 

[Sonny Burnett]

VNC is the way to go. You are then just using the iPad as a wireless terminal to control your Mac.