Thanks to this Mobile Dual LCD X-Ray Lightbox, they will no longer need to juggle thick piles of patient case notes on their rounds. 

Instead, they can see the patients' electronic medical records (EMR) and filmless X-ray images side by side for a more accurate diagnosis.

It was invented by a group of Singapore General Hospital (SGH) doctors and SingHealth Innovative Technology Application Group (iTAG) members.

Said Dr Agnes Tan, head of hand surgery at SGH: 'Now we can bring the digital images to the patient's bedside and we can also upload our clinical images onto the device quickly, which really facilitates discussions between doctor and patient.'

SGH went filmless in December last year. This means that patients no longer receive film X-rays, but rather have EMRs. Since all the records have been computerised, doctors need only a wireless laptop to view data from multiple sources simultaneously.

The lightbox with a wireless antenna, a stainless steel body and uninterruptible power supply will increase productivity as doctors will save the time needed to retrieve patients' records.

According to Dr Andrew Chin, who uses the lightbox regularly, the device will cut down wastage time by about five minutes a patient.

The brainchild of Dr Tan, the invention was an adaptation of the original X-ray boxes which were put on wheels to take X-ray films to the patient's bedside.

There are only two such lightboxes in SGH currently - one with two Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) screens and another with three.

Fifteen more dual-screen lightboxes, costing about $80,000 in all, will be used in SGH by the end of this month.

'The doctor shows me the X-rays in bed and then I can see how severe my situation is,' said Madam Tan Chai Hwa, 49, a patient at SGH. 'It is so much better.'