How technology supports Dr Dinesh Palipana at work and in life.
To celebrate International Day of People with Disability on 3 December, we spoke with Dr Dinesh Palipana OAM about how technology helps him do the work he loves – caring for patients, teaching and driving change. Dinesh is a doctor, lawyer, researcher and disability advocate. After a spinal cord injury during medical school, he became Queensland’s first quadriplegic medical intern and Australia’s first doctor with a spinal cord injury. Today, he’s helping to make healthcare and education more inclusive for everyone. Working in a digital hospital. “As a world, we’re shifting towards electronic and digital hospitals,” Dinesh says. “That’s a good thing, not just for patients, but for clinicians too. For me, with limited hand function, or someone else who might be blind or have another kind of disability, electronic records help make the job accessible.” Paper charts, once messy and hard to manage, were replaced by electronic records that could be accessed securely and completed by voice. Voice dictation and AI note-taking tools now help Dinesh record patient notes quickly and clearly. “You just set your phone down and it does the note for you,” he says. “It’s saving time, but also improving accuracy.” Problem-solving through technology. Much of
