Monday, January 15, 2007
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.
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
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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Sunday, December 17, 2006
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
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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Saturday, December 16, 2006
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.
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.
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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Thursday, December 14, 2006
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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Tuesday, December 05, 2006
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:
Tarascon
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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