Useful Piece of Technology

I was recently introduced to a new piece of technology through my corporate work, and I am finding it very useful in my Energy Medicine practice as well, so I thought I'd share.  Have you heard of SmartPens?  Different ones have different features, but the one I am using is the Echo smartpen by Livescribe.  The pen looks relatively unremarkable.  It is an unobtrusive piece of technology yet with it I can create audio recordings linked to the words that are being written with the pen.  I can also connect the pen to my computer and create an electronic copy of all that I have written.

So how do I use such a tool in Energy Medicine?  Let's walk through a session with Susan, my imaginary client.  When we start working together, I ask Susan's permission to audio record parts of our session just for my own record.  Let's assume she agrees.  I open my notebook (the Echo pen requires a special micro-dot paper), turn on my pen, and tap the record button at the bottom of the page.  Then I may write the words "Presenting Symptoms."  Then the pen records in Susan's own words her answers to my inquiries about why she came to see me today.

I can stop and start recording at any time.   I usually stop recording after our initial chat.  Then after the session is over, I write up her energy homework.  I'll often add what might be a good idea for our next session together.  I can tear out the page with my notes, including her homework, and give it to her.  When I connect the pen to my laptop later, I will have the page exactly as I wrote it, now in electronic form.  I just file in the Susan folder on my laptop.    Any words with audio recording attached are displayed in green. When I click on them, I can replay all that was said while I was writing those words.  I could also email Susan audio instructions of her homework made with the pen.

With additional software, I can have the handwritten notes translated into a typed Word file.  Not a step I would take with a client file, but really helpful if I were making notes for an article or even a blog entry. 

Let me know if you have questions or if you've found other solutions to records management that I should know about!

Peace,

Shannon