The story behind Dilato

It started a few years ago, when I worked full-time in the emergency department. While I was happy with my practice, I realized something was wrong with my workflow: documentation was stealing a lot of my time. Every day, I was writing repetitive notes in patient records, over and over again.

There should be a better way, right?

After speaking with friends, I decided to start making templates of my notes for common clinical cases. I would use these templates as a starting point to make all my notes. Whenever a patient came complaining of a headache, I would pull my "headache" template to make my note quickly.

I tried a few existing solutions, but none were to my satisfaction. As I have a creative mind, I decided to try building it. So I enrolled in online coding courses.

With the help of my brother (programmer), we quickly came up with a prototype: Dilato was born. It did not look very good, but it was fast. My templates were just 2 clicks away! Plus, templates acted as a security net to make sure my patient assessments didn't miss key elements.

I got more productive right from the start and enjoyed using it. Maybe others would too? So, I decided to share the app with 20 or so of my friends and colleagues. I think only 2 or 3 of my contacts did try the prototype, but the good thing is they shared Dilato with others. I soon started receiving emails from physicians I didn't know, saying good words about the app and requesting new features. (And, yes, most of them are still with us! ❤️)

I improved Dilato in my spare time and added features upon user requests. The number of users kept growing every year. It's only recently that I realized our user base was large enough to think Dilato wasn't just a side gig anymore.

So, last year, I reoriented my practice as a physician and hired two developers to redesign Dilato from the bottom up. My life partner Audrey (also a physician and the mother of our four boys) also reduced her workload and started to help with templates, social media and bookkeeping.

Here is the result: In 2022, we launched a brand new Dilato that I think you'll love!

My goal is to relieve physicians from spending hours on EMR charting and make documentation super easy. I want to hear them say "Hey, writing my notes was a piece of cake today!" 🤗

Charles Tanguay, MD Founder of Dilato

If you want to chat, email me at info@dilato.app