1. The present case is identical to one charted before.
Medical schools teach us that no two cases are identical. But, in the reality of daily practice, one often writes or dictates exactly the same litany many times over. This occurs because the mind uses a set of words to express similar medical concepts, and a physician uses the same methods to handle similar situations.
When identical text is found, the case is finished. Praxis generates the note instantly, complete with instructions to patient and staff, prescriptions, admitting orders, procedure reports, letters to referring providers, office or school excuses, and even an optimal coded superbill. The doctor is seeing the next patient!
2. The present case is similar but not identical to one charted before.
In this more frequent instance, Praxis presents the text of the closest case. From there, it is just a matter of editing the note to meet current conditions. More importantly, the changes made are instantly remembered, so that the next time an encounter falls between two similar cases, editing time is reduced to half, then to a quarter, then to an eighth of what it was before. The more one charts with Praxis, the faster it gets.
The more you use Praxis, the less editing is needed and charting becomes faster and easier. Before you know it, you are charting at the speed of your mind!
3. The present case is unlike anything ever charted before.
Up to this point, one might think that Praxis simply copies the entire text from a past patient note and presents it during the actual encounter. In fact, what the Concept Processor actually does is quite different. It encapsulates words, phrases, and even entire paragraphs for a particular user into concepts that may then be reused with other patients.
Rare cases are often new combinations of not-so-rare elements that are present in Praxis from use in other cases. The Concept Processor identifies linkages and relationships among these concepts from previous use, and because each concept has its own independent bell-shaped curve, Praxis is able to bring the right concept together with others with speed and precision whenever needed - even when charting a case that is very different from anything seen. For example, the fever instructions for a case of the common cold may be used for a case of Mediterranean Hemorrhagic Fever with few if any changes. At most, minor editing is all that is needed. The lengthy tapering dosage for a Prednisone prescription may be used for many different conditions, even rare ones.
PRAXIS Recalls Concepts, not Diagnoses.
Additionally, the Concept Processor takes into account that the same physician does not describe or treat a diagnosis in a single way. In fact, one may handle the same diagnosis in many ways, depending on both medical and non-medical factors (such as the patient's insurance policy, ability to pay, social situation, and many other factors determined by the practitioner's own personal style). However, there is always a method to the provider's madness. If a different patient were to present with the same clinical and non-clinical conditions, that same practitioner would handle that new case in the same way. The Concept Processor, then, captures the doctor's personal approach for handling a case in a certain way and then instantly links all the other charting elements accordingly.
Our clients inform us that it is fascinating to watch their own words coming back to them at the speed of their minds. Many clients report that for the first time in their professional careers they begin to understand how they actually think through each medical case. Most Praxis clients describe a Eureka moment when first using the software; from that point forward, the use of Praxis becomes very intuitive and intellectually satisfying. The physician handles all the creative aspects of a medical case. All the mundane details, all the minutiae, are left to Praxis. It is better than that: the chart can be used as a powerful personal checklist to insure that nothing is forgotten or overlooked--that all the t's are crossed and all the i's are dotted. If a case was done correctly in the past, it cannot be done incorrectly now, and if a mistake is discovered from before and corrected now, the same error cannot re-appear in the future. Thus, random errors progressively decrease and so does the accompanying stress from fears of "forgetting something."
This becomes a perfect marriage that turns a most boring task - charting - into a powerful medical tool that helps the doctor practice better medicine.
The Learning Curve
The greatest surprise to most of our clients is the speed at which a Concept Processor becomes useful. To understand why, you must first appreciate how we learn to express ourselves.
While the Oxford English Dictionary defines more than 400,000 words, most of us use less than 1500 of them. Yet no two of us use the same set of words! Over time, each of us develops our own set of words that we rely upon for generating our unique discourse.
However, no one ever thinks in words! Surely you will agree no one uses letters to think ("l," "e,","t,""t,""e,""r,""s"--right? ), but even words are mental abstractions. Our mind seems to store a set of comfortable strings of text that we instantly access subconsciously with extraordinary speed when needed.
With the Concept Processor, this naturally ocurring process is simply transferred to the computer. And, the bell-shaped curve effect guarantees that this learning is geometrical, growing faster and faster the more you use Praxis. Within a few hours of practice, Praxis is ready to be useful in your clinic.
Once in the clinic, the physician starts by entering the simplest cases, then the more complicated ones, and finally the rest. The process is that simple.