Small Practice Physicians Continue to Lag in Health IT Adoption

Study sees gaps in IT adoption
Doctors in smaller practices continued to lag behind their counterparts in big groups in the availability of information technology, according to a new study by the Center for Studying Health System Change in Washington.

The study, which included information from 12,000 physicians, found an increase for both small and large practices in access to information technology for each of five clinical activities. But the gaps in adoption persisted in two areas -- obtaining treatment guidelines and exchanging clinical data with other doctors -- and widened in three areas: accessing patient notes, generating preventive-care reminders and writing prescriptions.

Smaller practices "appear to be at risk of being left behind," according to Joy Grossman, co-author of the study, which was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. For instance, the study said about 8% of small practices (one to nine doctors) reported access to IT systems for prescriptions in 2000-01, a number that increased slightly to 13% in 2004-05. By contrast, the proportion of larger groups (51 or more doctors) with similar access grew to 47% in 2004-05 from 19% in 2000-01, the study said. Read more. -- by Michael Romano / HITS staff writer

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New PDA Tool for Pain Description by Patients

LATEST NEWS
December 16, 2006
Brits Create PDA Pain Tool
(November 13, 2006) Researchers at Brunel University in Uxbridge, England, have developed a handheld system that enables patients to record and rate pain. The Web-based system features a three-dimensional rotating visualization of the human body to help patients better explain the location of their pain.

Patients can mark their pain on an area of the 3D body then classify it as burning, aching, stabbing, pins and needles, or numbness. The pain data and image then can be stored and reviewed by physicians.

Researchers plan to use the software to help improve identification and treatment of back pain. For more information, click here.

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Physicians Really Need Converged Devices, but They Don't Seem to be Available Yet

If only
physicians had more than two hands, this wouldn't be a problem.
Clinicians are forced to carry multiple mobile devices to effectively
communicate with colleagues and patients, according to a recent
report from Spyglass Consulting Group. The firm finds that 67% of
clinicians interviewed report carrying multiple mobile devices to
manage communications with different groups of people, or to address
communication requirements for specific job functions. Clinicians tell
Spyglass that they are experimenting with a wide variety of different
types of mobile devices, including pagers, cell phones, "smart phones"
and VOIP (voice over Internet protocol) phones. The right mobile
communications device, says Spyglass, is dependent upon the work
environment, job responsibilities and personal preferences. The study
adds that clinicians lack tools to filter, manage and prioritize
communications to and from colleagues and patients. According to the
research firm, clinicians also report having difficulties communicating
with colleagues due to a dependency on paper-based workflows and a lack
of standardized tools and processes to collaborate with colleagues
across the continuum of care. For more information on the Spyglass
report, Healthcare Without Bounds: Trends in Mobile Communications,
click here.

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New Personal Health Record

The American Academy of Family Physicians and several large corporations are sponsoring a new personal health record entitled "Dossia," that is currently in development using latest security standards. If there is significant adoption and interfacing to EMR's, billing products, and other mobile computer programs, there is the potential to get some traction on creating usable electronic medical records for patients. Read more about it here.

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New version of Tarascon Pocket Pharmacopoeia for Handhelds

Tarascon has offered a new PDA version of their very popular drug reference.  Features of the new version include: 

A NEWLY-UPDATED,
custom-designed user interface, new features, and 6 new calculators makes the
Tarascon Pharmacopoeia a must-have application for your Palm or Pocket PC
device. The additional features and improved functionality join the existing
trusted content to create a tailored way to navigate the most popular drug
content available for handheld devices.

New Features Include:

• Six new Calculators, including: Glomerular Filtration Rate,
  temperature conversion, and weight conversion
• New, customizable drug views, so you can see the information that
  is most important to you, first
• New, Bookmarks feature allows you to quickly get to your most
  referenced drugs
• New, High Resolution interface and fonts
• Supports Palm, full-screen and landscape modes
• New expiration behavior to allow more functionality after
  expiration
• Improved support for navigation buttons

The
New Tarascon Pharmacopoeia is now available for your Palm or Pocket PC device.
To learn more about the Tarascon Pharmacopoeia, please visit http://www.tarascon.com
.

Tarascon

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