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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Canadian and US Primary Care Physicians Lag in use of Health IT

A new study published in Health Affairs compares the IT use of primary care physicians in 7 countries finding that US physicians have the lowest rates of EMR use, electronic drug interaction checking, preventative services reminders, and several other important markers.  I'm not surprised by these findings as the primary care health system in the US is dysfunctional right now with a premium placed on volume of patients, and little overhead to pay for IT enhancements.  On top of that, IT systems are frequently overpriced and poorly designed and conceived for the primary care setting.  A major emphasis should be placed on continuing to develop simple, effective systems that enhance primary care practice. 


Canadian and U.S. Primary Care Physicians Lag In Use Of Health IT

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New Tool from AHRQ to Determine Recommended Preventive Services

• Recommendation of preventive services by primary care physicians goes electronic. The HHS Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) on Oct. 26 unveiled its new Electronic Preventive Services Selector (ePSS) tool for primary clinicians to use with a personal digital assistant (PDA) or desktop computer. The interactive tool allows clinicians to access the latest recommendations from the AHRQ-sponsored U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. The ePSS is designed for use at the point of care and contains 110 recommendations for specific populations covering 59 separate preventive services topics, AHRQ says. The agency adds that the real-time search function permits a clinician to input a patient's age, gender and selected behavioral risk factors — such as whether the patient is a smoker — in the appropriate fields. The software then cross-references the patient characteristics entered with the applicable AHRQ task force recommendations and generates a report specifically tailored for that patient. The report has information on screening tests ranging from mammograms to ultrasounds for detecting abdominal aortic aneurysms, as well as counseling topics and information on preventive medications. View and download the tool at www.ePSS.ahrq.gov.

Palm Treo 700wx vs. Palm Treo 700p

Well, just received a new Treo 700p, but haven't even had time to swap it out with my old Treo 650. I am looking forward to the larger memory and being able to upgrade the e-mail program and some additional programs that I couldn't run on the 650 due to running out of memory. In the meanwhile, here is a nice review comparing the 700wx vs. the 700p. Click here.