MindTech UnConference

An interesting "UnConference" today at MindTech in South London (theory being that the really useful things that happen in conferences tend to happen in the gaps between presentations, so an UnConference is mostly gaps, and little formal presentation.)

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TIDDLYNOTES

One of the conversations was about designing a radically new approach to client notes - that could place the client at the centre of the system, rather than the current NHS IT systems - that are almost entirely top-down, functioning for the larger system first, the doctor second, and the patient hardly at all...

Now, I am not saying that it would be a cinch but go with me on this...

Think about TiddlySpace and all it does. Say I have a problem, and I go to my GP. Say I have a "MyHealthJournal" - a TiddlySpace-like wiki, and I have already included my GP's Space-about-me (what used be called my medical notes), so I have access to all my notes; and although the original content is curated by my GP, if I have different views or feel stuff has been left out, I can annotate my own version of my GP's notes within my Space. My version and my GP's version are clearly separate, comparable, and transparently useful as each note (tiddler in the Tiddlyspace vernacular) is taggable, searchable, link -able etc.

Now, because my problems are a bit complicated, I am referred to a social worker, and a psychotherapist too. I choose to include their spaces about me in my space too.

I can set access so that my psychotherapist can read my GPs notes, but my Social worker can't. My space also includes a Safety Space that all included spaces have reading and editing rights...

As far as I can see most of this is already feasible in a tiddlyweb environment like Tiddlyspace...

OK, we're talking about a few tweaks for security, for setting access levels to included spaces from other visitors to your space, then Bob's your uncle and the job's a good 'un... No but seriously, it is doable. The more interesting question is of course how the people using this system would learn to USE it...

Hard pressed health staff would I am sure worry about the additional demands that might be placed on them if they were expected to read all of this new material, as they could end up having no time to see and speak to clients or patients if they were trying to keep up with additional posts... But this like most things if thinkable is probably also manageable...

How might this fit with existing TiddlyManuals? Well, the functionality to use a downloaded copy of the manual as a set of notes is already built in, if a little clunky. Look in the AMBIT manual under the tag ICR (interactive case recording). We have placed this on hold, as we felt we needed to focus on the browsing and team editing functions first, but comes a time...