More Uses for cellphones in healthcare

As cell phones (and smartphones) become the most prevalent technology in Doctor's offices and in patient's hands, more and more opportunities arise. Not only is it useful to doctors (e.g. for charge capture, patient lists, e-prescribing, drug look-up, etc.), but imagine being able to remind patients (automatically) to check blood sugars or blood pressures and automatically feed this information back into office-based systems. We have been seeing more and more research funded by NIH along these lines and the article by Peter Groen and Douglas Goldstein on Virtual Medical Worlds (click here) details many of the current programs and uses that are available.

Calling Dr. Cellphone

Health care is harnessing electronic devices to monitor chronic diseases

Tom Blackwell, National Post

Published: Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Each time Joyce Telford visited the doctor and had her blood pressure measured, it always came back too high, an unsettling pattern that led to the 49-year-old taking more and more hypertension medication. What Ms. Telford's blood-pressure did in the weeks between those visits, however, was always a bit of a mystery.

Then the Toronto nurse took part in a novel study at the city's Mount Sinai Hospital that coupled a wireless-equipped blood-pressure cuff, regular home readings and a cellphone that helped send the measurements to her doctor, letting the physician see a range of readings, instead of just one. It turned out that between visits, her blood pressure actually stayed under control, news that persuaded her doctor to hold off on prescribing yet another drug.

The study published this month in the American Journal of Hypertension also pointed to other, more impressive benefits from the cellphone-based system, which sent alerts to patients and doctors when their blood pressure got too high or too low. The average blood-pressure readings of the 31 participants fell significantly over the study period, reductions that in the long-term would translate into 40% fewer heart attacks and strokes among hypertension and diabetes patients, said Dr. Alexander Logan, the Mount Sinai nephrologist who headed the study.

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=ba0cc4f6-3beb-42e4-a35c-b22dac5e37d0&k=0

Mobile phones for the assessment of burns: we have the technology

Shokrollahi, K., et al. - To investigate the accuracy of assessment of burn surface area and depth using a basic camera-equipped mobile phone...Conclusion: There are a number of implications for the use of mobile phone technology in hospitals and its potential use in the management of major in addition to minor burns, as well as other forms of trauma. The untapped potential for this technology in a hospital environment is highlighted ...

http://emj.bmj.com/cgi/content/abstract/24/11/753

PocketMed(R) Revolutionizes Mobile Billing Industry

PocketMed, a leader in mobile charge has released a new version of their popular charge capture software for practicing physicians. This software is affordable and easy to use by practicing physicians without significant up-front costs or tech support.

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New Palm Centro Launched

The new Palm Centro may work very well in the healthcare setting due to 64MB of on-board memory and expansion card. This is basically the same amount of memory as the Treo line (e.g. Treo 700, 750, etc.). See video here.

IT Mobility in healthcare setting requires multi-faceted approach

An excellent editorial in June's issue of Health Data Management explains strategies needed to ensure patient data is delivered to clinicians when and where they need this information. Click here to read article.

Business Week predicts demise of Palm

Yet another article has predicted the demise of the Palm company due to its lack of recent innovation. All you have to do is read some of the comments and ask any physician user why this may not be true. For example....many of the new devices from Apple, Blackberry, etc., still don't run the most popular medical applications such as drug database software, charge capture applications and other essential programs that physicians use daily. I would disagree with the Business Week author on his predictions. Click here to review the article and see comments.

Palm Desktop and HotSync Updated for Windows Vista

Palm has released an update to their desktop and hotsync utilities which should enable your Palm handheld to be used with Windows Vista. It is only compatible with newer devices such as the Palm Treo line, Tungsten T/X and the E2. You can read more about it and work-arounds for other devices at this link. Click here to download.

New Report on Personal Health Records (PHR's)

The California HealthCare Foundation has released a new report on PHR's. Although they have great promise to assist patients in managing their care, potential benefits need to be weighed with the disadvantages of possible additional work, medicolegal liability and other considerations for physicians. The report can be downloaded here.

Palm Treo 700P Update Released

Palm has released a Treo 700P update for Sprint users that will fix some of the bugs that you may encounter from time to time. An update for Verizon customers is expected soon. Apparently, no update is needed for Alltel, Bell, Cellular South, or Telus Mobility users. I usually install these updates as they can improve the performance of the device and might fix some annoying errors and shutdowns that occur from time to time. The list of improvements appears here. Download the update here.

Personal Health Records or PHR----Opportunities and Risks

This article presents a good discussion on the advantages and disadvantages of PHR's. See article here.

Cost of Filing Medical Claims

Relying on office-based labor for medical claims processing may be costing physicians more than they think. A new white paper from MedAvant highlights the hidden costs found in free resources offered by most insurance companies. Click here to read this new white paper. Also, a web-based calculator helps you calculate costs (click here).

Protect Your Eyes While Using Mobile Computers

A recent article in U.S. News and World Report describes a syndrome known as "computer vision syndrome." Click here to read the article and learn how to avoid it.

Windows Vista not ready for Palm yet

Palm users may want to wait a little longer before upgrading to Vista, as the new Windows operating system is not compatible with the Palm installation tools to add software. There are few work-arounds, but it looks like there will be a delay before an update is forthcoming from Palm or Windows. Palm has set up a website to address these issues. Click here to visit the site.

Having Trouble Since the Daylight Savings Time Change?

The new daylight savings time changes require updates to your mobile device, so that your appointment times are correct. Make sure to check the Microsoft site (or Apple's as the case may be) to update your desktop or laptop first. Then, click on your device type for the correct patches: Palm or Pocket PC .

Free PDA Apps

A great list of the best free PDA apps is being compiled at the Palmdoc Chronicles. You can also submit your favorites.

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Apple iPhone Probably Won't Work Well for Healthcare Professionals

The announcement of the new Apple iPhone (http://www.apple.com/iphone/) has created a lot of excitement in the marketplace, but unfortunately it won't be very useful for most health care professionals as it will only operate proprietary Apple software and will only work on one wireless network initially. Yes, I love my iPod and am infatuated with the various photographs of the new phone, however how useful will it be without all the various programs such as ePocrates, medical calculators, reference books, etc., that I use every day in clinical practice? Probably not much, unfortunately. Initially developers thought it would support Mac OS X applications, however it appears there will be NO 3rd party application support at all! For example, you won't even be able to synchronize with your Outlook calendar, no support for Microsoft Office applications such as Word, Excel, etc., and no medical applications. I wish the news was better, but this looks like a very expensive toy without much practical use in the medical field. Hopefully, other companies will be able to replicate the innovative design and interface of the iPhone to offer support for the thousands of Palm and Windows Mobile applications that are available. Time will tell.

More and More Physicians Getting Rounding Data via PDA's

PDAs keeping Ill. doctors up to speed

When David Rogers needed quick results from a blood test for one of his
hospitalized patients in the early 1980s, he had to leave the person's
bedside and either make a call to the hospital's laboratory -- a call
that often went unanswered -- or show up at the lab.

Rogers, a pediatric surgeon at Southern Illinois University
School of Medicine, now whips out a personal digital assistant and he
uses a stylus to touch a few icons on a screen slightly larger than a
credit card.

Read more (registration may be required). -- by (Springfield, Ill.) State Journal-Register

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