How can Mobile Technology help Healthcare

An estimated 70% of physicians in the United States have either a smartphone or a tablet PC such as an iPad. They are adopting EHRs and are more techno savvy than ever before.  Mobile health provides ease of access and mobility to both physicians and patients and creates a coordinated care culture.  Let’s look at some of the examples available today of Mobile Technology driving Healthcare.

1. Mobile technology can help patients access care for themselves and others.  They can help with making physician appointments and getting alerts to be reminded of them.  Mobile also allow direct to patient alerts to increase adherence of physician instructions, specifically with regards diets, exercises and medications.

2. Mobile Technology helps in easing the delivery of care in the form of tools to better self monitor. Examples are the mobile apps capturing vital sign as also those which monitor various parameters like blood glucose, heart rate, cholesterol, etc.

3. Mobiles help improve the patient provider communications. Simple text messages and phone calls to verify or report a problem or symptom allow a more direct one to one relationship. While many physicians wonder how this helps them, this significantly adds trust in the eyes of a patient.

4. Mobile Technology also helps in easing the delivery of care by providing direct access to medical providers, ancillary services such as home nursing, insurance companies and the patient’s electronic health record portal. 

5. Mobile health Technologies can provide physicians and laboratories with data measured at much shorter intervals than those of typical in clinic patient visits.  This allows collation of data which can be meaningful analyzed for trends.  For e.g. a physician may increase surveillance of blood glucose levels to help manage diabetic patients.

6. Mobile technology allows the patient information, results, trends to be accessible anywhere.  A patients history can be pulled up on demand on a smartphone in the operating room; Patient charts can be viewed and updated on a tablet while walking in the hospital on rounds.

Read more »

How Can A Smartphone Help You In Your Practice?

75% of American doctors own smartphones and over 95% of them use smartphone healthcare applications in their practice. As a growing number of medical schools and health facilities make it mandatory for students and practitioners to actively use smartphones in their practice, the wireless health market is positioned to grow exponentially in the coming years. Latest smartphone advances in technology and medical applications have provided doctors the opportunity to bring about improvements in almost every function of their practice.

Using Smartphones To Improve Your Practice

Using a smartphone in your practice can help improve its efficiency and productivity in ways more tangible than perceived. These ergonomic, portable devices provide wireless web access and ingenious medical applications that offer limitless possibilities in the hands of a skilled user. For starters, doctors can carry a whole world of medical research, updated real-time information and databases in their pockets, allowing for complete point of care accessibility. 

Apart from providing crucial medical information, smartphones perform a number of administrative and medical functions that can change the way medicine is practiced. On the administrative side, smartphones can be used to maintain calendars, appointments, patients schedules and these can be synchronized with multiple devices like  home and office laptops, tablets and other workstations, making all the information available to you as one simplified, integrated database. Smartphones can work with emails, can be used for emergency notes, memos and patient records, automated appointment and medication reminders, e-prescribing, drug management, billing and policy information and prescription drug references. They are intelligent devices that allow doctors to view and scrutinize medical images, ultrasound scans and ECG reports. Lab orders and results can also be reviewed wherever you are, using your smartphone. 

A growing number of practitioners are connecting with their patients using social media and other interactive web-based apps. These tools typically require a dynamic, on-the-go approach which is possible only via portable devices with inbuilt web access and smartphones fit the bill perfectly. Smartphones are also poised to be smart health monitors that use smart sensors and smart bandages to monitor patients, communicating the relevant data to practitioners through health monitoring apps. Patients and doctors can both receive indicators and warnings on their health dashboards based on the reports of this active monitoring model.

Smartphones can help healthcare professionals manage their day in the field to route patient calls, send instant patient reports and generate bills at the point of care. In fact, telemedicine is now using the NFC or near-field communication technology in smartphones to completely go wireless. This technology uses radio-frequency identification (RFID) that allows patients to pay for healthcare with a swipe of their smartphones.

Mobile Medicine - Smartphone Healthcare Applications

The main advantage that smartphones hold over regular mobile phones is the availability of useful and cutting edge healthcare applications. With over 17,000 medical apps available in the market, we put together a list of apps that are most popular with healthcare professionals of varied interests and specializations. Many of them are free to download (with paid premium versions available) and can be used on the iPhone, Blackberry, Windows, Palm and Android operating systems. Users must check the compatibility of the applications with their smartphone operating systems before downloading.

Application	Features	Platforms Supported
PubMed On Tap	Gives you access to the National Library of Medicine and MEDLINE® citations.	iPhone
ePocrates	Information on drugs and drug interactions, helps you identify pills using pictures and descriptions, features a well-received medical calculator called MedMath.	iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Palm
DynaMed	A clinical reference database containing more than 3,200 evidence-based clinical summaries that are updated daily and intended for use primarily at the point-of-care.	iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Palm, Windows
UpToDate	A clinical decision support system that includes access to over 8,500 topics in 17 specialties. Combines detailed medical information, expert opinions and recommendations.	iPhone, Blackberry
Skyskape’s RxDrugs	Provides updated dosing guidelines on medications, contains weight-based drug dosing calculators and informative monographs.	iPhone, Android, Blackberry
Taber’s Medical Dictionary	Contains over 60,000 terms, 1,000 photos, and more than 600 Patient Care Statements, in-depth definitions, nutrition and alternative therapy coverage, medical abbreviations, symbols and units of measurement, immunization schedules, nursing diagnoses, links to pronunciations.	iPhone, Blackberry, Android, Windows
Clinical Consult	Diagnosis, treatment, medications, follow-up of most common medical conditions. Drug therapy information, alternative medicines and evidence-based drug information provided.	iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Palm, Windows
First Consult	Gives you evidence-based answers to clinical questions.	iPhone
Diagnosauras	Helps in differential diagnosis with access to over 1,000 diagnoses by organ system, symptom and disease.	iPhone
Netter’s Anatomy	Provides anatomical illustrations from Netter’s bestselling Atlas of Human Anatomy .	iPhone
MedCalc	Gives you easy access to complicated medical formulas, scores, scales and classifications.	iPhone
mobileMicromedex	Information on drugs, interactions, diseases, lab, alternative medicines, toxicology, news and alerts, convenient calculators.	Windows, Palm Blackberry, iPhone (not on standard download)
Brain Tutor	Contains information on functions and structure of parts of the brain for students and medical professionals. It allows you to explore 3D models of the head and brain in real-time.	iPhone
Medscape	Includes drug reference, interaction checker, disease/condition reference and treatment guide, procedures reference, tables and protocols reference, daily medical news and alerts, continuing medical education activities, physician-pharmacy-hospital directories, offline access to clinical reference.	iPhone, Android, Blackberry
Wikipedia Mobile	Helps you view Wikipedia articles on your smartphone.	iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Palm, Windows

Smartphones mean that you’re carrying large volumes of crucial confidential information in a fragile device. Hence, the FDA has stepped in to regulate the information that you can upload and transmit over certain apps for data security and safety purposes. Hence, users must keep informed about FDA regulations that apply to medical smartphone applications.

References

1. http://cid.oxfordjournals.org/content/47/1/117.full
2. http://drottematic.wordpress.com/2009/11/12/using-smartphones-in-medicine-practical-examples/
3. http://www.firstwordplus.com/FWD0430510.do
4. http://www.pcworld.com/article/236011/fda_plans_to_regulate_smartphone_apps.html
5. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/tech-for-tomorrow/health-care-eyes-smart-phones-to-heal-ills/article1288140/
6. http://www.blackberrypartnersfund.com/blogs/bbfundblog/smartphonesandhealthcare
7. http://hitexchangemedia.com/articles/mayjune-2011/smartphones-could-become-mobile-nurses-and-labs-in-the-future/
8. http://digital-medicine.posterous.com/doctors-leaning-towards-e-detailing-and-table
9. http://www.bluelinerny.com/blog/world/smartphones-future-of-medicine.php
10. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20690190
11. http://blogs.ubc.ca/dean/2011/02/smartphones-in-medicine-let-me-count-the-ways/
12. http://digital-medicine.posterous.com/using-smartphones-to-share-ecgs-with-your-doc
13. http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/14109.aspx
14. http://www.medschool.vcu.edu/technology/ed_tech/smartphones.html
15. http://www.softwareadvice.com/articles/medical/smartphone-survey-results-1073009/#ixzz1VPd7ILCW
16. http://www.ebscohost.com/dynamed/what.php
17. http://itunes.apple.com
18. http://www.uptodate.com/home/about/toc.html
19. http://www.skyscape.com/estore/productdetail.aspx?productid=1093
20. http://thinkanatomy.com/2008/10/netters-anatomy-iphone-app/

Read more »

The Use Of Tablets In the World of EMRs

With a growing number of physicians adopting tablet PCs for their EMR implementations, EMR vendors and IT manufacturers are looking to build compatible native systems to facilitate user-friendly and efficient EMR execution. From table desktops to thin clients and now the tablet, EMRs have been tried and tested on a variety of hardware, each bringing its own benefits and drawbacks. However, the striking surge in EMR adoption on tablet PCs has made providers sit up and take notice of this remarkably promising technology.
 

Evolution of Tablets in the EMR Space

The tablet technology has found a significant number of users in the healthcare industry. A survey conducted by Manhattan Research reveals that practitioners are leaning largely towards mobile platforms in order to improve the productivity and quality of care, as well as for efficient EMR implementations. According to the research, it is estimated that around 30% of doctors own an iPad, which is the leader in the tablet PC market today. Supported by increased bandwidths and wireless internet speeds, the tablet is expected to become a popular choice among physicians, who are already displaying considerable interest in EMR adoption on tablets. Tracing this dramatic rise in the adoption of tablet PCs in the healthcare industry, IT companies are working on designing specialized platforms that connect smart devices like tablets and smartphones to EMRs. 

Tablets and EMRs  

Even though EMRs on wireless tablets are neatly poised to be the next big thing in the healthcare industry, they do have their detractors. Positively, tablets lend EMRs a host of benefits ranging from portability and enhanced patient communication to increased data accessibility and productivity. Physicians who have worked with EMRs on tablet PCs appreciate their connectivity, usability and design benefits. Tablets are small and light, easy to use and can be conveniently carried for patient visits (as opposed to old-world hospital carts carrying the EMRs on king-sized, unhandy desktops). Physicians can access data from hospital systems and complete their charting in real time while working with patients. Notes can be handwritten using tablets and documents can be wirelessly sent for printing directly from the device. Tablet interface also opens up communication channels between the patients and doctors, contributing to better relationships and improved quality of care. 

While tablet PCs are serving EMR implementations well by helping physicians devise a seamless and efficient flow of healthcare processes, users have nonetheless identified a number of pain points that need to be addressed for the tablet to deliver a dependable and sure-fire system to support EMRs. Firstly, most tablets are not designed specifically for medical use (though this appears to be changing as tablet marketers have identified compelling potential in the healthcare industry). Physicians may not be comfortable using the touchscreen on tablets that do not have a stylus. This makes the data entry process sluggish and eats into the valuable time doctors can spend interacting with patients. Tablets are also tough to clean and sterilize, and touchscreens don’t work with surgical gloves. Since it is a relatively newer technology, hospital IT infrastructure and wireless networking platforms are often not equipped to support and integrate EMR implementations on the tablet. It is easy to lose your wireless signal in old hospital buildings with limited IT support, and a tablet with dropped wireless is as good as of no use considering that most Medical Solutions for the Tablets today are pretty much web based solutions.  

Selecting a Tablet for your EMR

There are a number of factors physicians must consider before investing in a tablet to run their EMR. It is important to ensure that your tablet serves all the primary EMR functions and process requirements. To begin with, your tablet must have a good battery life. It must be easy to operate, user-friendly and durable. Tablets are available in two styles, the slate-style and the convertible-style. The convertible-style has a built-in keyboard and therefore, is heavier as compared to slate-style tablets that do not have a keyboard.  

It is always better to go in for specialized tablets that have been specifically designed for medical and EMR use. iPad and Android are introducing a number of features and apps that support a host of certified EMR systems. Samsung is also making custom Android operating system tablets for EMR and medical use. CNET editors list the highest-rated tablets in the market with Apple iPad 2, Samsung Galaxy Tab , Asus Eee Pad Transformer, BlackBerry PlayBook and T-Mobile G-Slate emerging as top contenders. Other models that have become popular with physicians are Motion LE1600 Tablet PC by Motion Computing and Fujitsu ST5000 Tablet PC by Fujitsu. They are both slate-style tablets and range between $2000-$2500. The Toshiba Portege, Acer C200 and IMB Thinkpad are also good convertible-style options.

References:

1.    http://www.medicaltabletpc.com/
2.    http://www.emrandhipaa.com/administrator/2006/01/21/pros-and-cons-of-using-wireless-vs-wired-for-your-emr/
3.    http://technology4doctors.blogspot.com/2011/06/what-emr-medical-software-options-are.html
4.    http://www.emrandhipaa.com/emr-and-hipaa/2009/06/05/top-5-wireless-challenges-for-healthcare-it/
5.    http://www.emrapproved.com/emr-hardware.php
6.    http://www.imedicalapps.com/2011/02/samsung-android-hospital-medical-use-tablet/
7.    http://www.smartphonehc.com/tag/tablet-emr/
8.    http://healthpopuli.com/2011/06/02/doctors-using-tablet-based-emrs-like-portability-productivity-and-patient-communication/
9.    http://palmdoc.net/index.php/2011/06/06/tablets-and-emrs/
10.    http://sdcms.org/article/tablet-or-not-tablet-right-question
11.    http://www.emrexperts.com/articles/electronic-medical-records-tablet-pc.php
12.    http://www.ophmanagement.com/printarticle.aspx?article=105621
13.    http://www.emrandhipaa.com/administrator/2009/08/03/tablets-vs-convertibles-vs-laptops-and-emr/
14.    http://www.itwriting.com/tablet.php
15.    http://www.hp.com/sbso/solutions/healthcare/drmillersuccess.pdf

Read more »