Healthcheck: App prevents medical mistakes

A local doctor has created a smartphone app to prevent an all-too-common medical mistake.

It happens when doctors call in a prescription, but the patient doesn't get the right drug, the right dose, or the right timing.

"Either the doctor can say one thing and the nurse can interpret another," said Dr. Larry Wolk. "For that reason, a lot of hospitals don't allow phone orders."

Not allowing phone orders can delay medication. So Wolk created an app called eAttending.

It only takes a few minutes to use.

"The doctor types in what he wants," explains Wolk. "The nurse has the order written. There's no question and it's recorded on the chart, dated, timed, and it's typed - no problem with illegibility."

The order goes to the fax within seconds.

eAttending is barely a month old, but Dr. Wolk says several dozen doctors in the area are already using it.