Archive for ‘Medicine 2.0’

April 28th, 2010

Ipad and Medicine

by admin

This is the third part in the series of Technology enablers in Health

Multi-touch screen  devices which you can carry any where, surf  the web perform basic word processing applications and also read a journal, listen to audio casts. This is what health care professionals are looking at.

Many manufactures, ventured on this territory-noticeably,Cruchpad or JooJoo was a device with limited functions, it enabled you to surf the web and watch videos, but with the price at more that $300, it was not exciting enough.

Kindle, was promising but it performed only one function-to read e-books and surf the web on grey scale.

Ultra-light mobile computing devices generated a lot of interest among manufactures, they were portable and multi media rich enabled device, but the thumb mouse and split keyboard in some of the devices like Samsung Q1 didn’t come across as easy to learn for consumers.

Apple studied these mistakes with care- remember Apple Newton.When Iphone was released at first it was popular as it was smart, small, sexy using sensor based touch screen. It was also internet based with multimedia rich applications product. Over the span of few years, many applications were built around it resulting in the tremendous popularity of Iphone.

Numerous multimedia based medical applications were developed in a short span of time which catapulted Iphone as a popular device among the health care community. The use of Multi-touch sensor and also numerous applications built around it are one of the fundamental reasons for the ever rising popularity of I Phones among medical professionals. Apple says that 150,000 existing I Phone apps run on the Ipad today with the numbers increasing every day.

It was then no surprise, that when Ipad which is an evolution from Iphone was released recently, there was tremendous excitement all over the world. Like its Iphone counterpart, it uses the multi-touch user interface, longer battery life, Iphone OS, but with a gigantic glossy 9.7 “screen and also has numerous third applications running on it.

The major advantage of Ipad is that in having a bigger screen, it can easily function as e-book reader, and the muti-touch applications in medical area will make it helpful to health care professionals.

Although, it does have some drawbacks, with the lack of USB port to transfer files from main frame computers and also lack of portable storage media ports.But,this may be the future, with lack of USB and transfer of files with use of Bluetooth/wireless network.

The major concern in the health care world, is what if it is stolen? Will all the important research data or patient record be misused?

This could be answered by the same question as what are your chances of opening your wallet in a busy subway and displaying all your money to public for viewing. What is the probability of your wallet being hacked?

It is important to maintain security of data, and it could be done by using only secure server to store data, and also by using secure password enabled features like IP tracking or Local area secured network environment to prevent unauthorized access to data.

Give a thought, the current Ipad version is only the first generation. In the upcoming years Apple will definitely release numerous updates and modification on Ipad and surely make lot of money. And hopefully make it more sturdy and user friendly for medical applications.

The bottom line is the future is bright for Ipad, Imagine a day, when you visit your physician office and instead of using the clipboard, you are given a Ipad to fill out the forms and review a health education video prior to meeting your health care professional. It surely will help in overcoming the anxiety during the long waiting  time.

P.S: One of the tools or products which may be beneficial to health care world is sterilization or cleaning of Ipad when using it in hospital based environment.

CategoryConstructive Medicine, Ipad, Medicine 2.0, Web 2.0 | Comment7 Comments »

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April 21st, 2010

Ipad and its impact on Medicine.

by Editor

This is the second part of the series on Technology enablers in Health.

The current stats show that Ipad is a runaway hit among consumers. There are many reasons for this phenomenon, primarily it is the big brother of the popular Iphone.Secondly the applications which work on Iphone and Itouch are enabled for Ipad.

One of the major drawbacks in health care community is hesitation to early adoption of any new technology. In that we are conservative, that is we wait and watch and do not surf any new technological wave rapidly. It is a good startegy,as wait and watch for others mistake.But,the ever increasing cost of health care delivery necessitates some drastic actions.

Today internet applications are widely adopted by both patients and by physicians. It has also given rise to a new breed of consumers also known as health i consumers. These are consumers who surf the internet for any health related information. This is not surprising when we look at a research study published in BMJ in 2006 ,showing that web based searching may help doctors to diagnose difficult cases.

So, what is that makes the health care industry lags behind early adoption of new technologies? Are we still waiting for disruptive technologies to spill over to health care industry?

Growth of Iphone medical applications

When smart phones were first released, they were evolution of the ubiquitous personal digital assistant or better known as Palm PC.It was a success in the medical community as it was easy to carry around and also operate. There were many applications built around it for the medical community, similar to present generation Iphone application.

Although it had limitations in form factor and slower processor speed.

The current generation of Smart Phones are much more advanced and also have revolutionized our communications behaviours with tools like twitter.  Twitter can help in epidemiology-specific analytics, as these can be layered on top of the feeds to recognize specific disease patterns as they develop.However, Smartphones has a major drawback, the limited applications which work on them and the processor speed and the size. Smart entrepreneurs tried to bridge the size gap – RedFly by Celio Corp.

Tablet PC were technically marketed to fill in the niche-larger screen based smart phone; they were small, portable and even operated on Windows software. The leading software of the world, this enabled many healthcare professionals to move onto tablet pc’s.However, the success was limited. One of the reasons was that the applications built for conventional PC was applied onto tablet PC’s and it no longer viable. There was no software that made it wonderful, no developer built compelling applications for it and yes, it was almost as heavy as laptops, with the limited battery life.

Every year, manufactures continued to churn out the same old tablet pc’s, albeit with updated features like a touch screen and some new touch-friendly applications, this did not excite many consumers or health care professionals.

Net book pc’s filled the gap with longer battery life and also small size factor. This generated much buzz among consumers. They could be carried out anywhere and basic computing tasks like word processing and web access could be performed easily. But, the main disadvantage was that the information was to be entered through conventional keyboard, applications were windows based. Asus, released a net book based touch screen computer, but it was just a scaled-down version of any number of tablet PCs already out there, though less powerful, thanks to the Atom processor. That keeps the cost down and increases battery life, but that’s not been enough to lure mainstream consumers from health care world. Without any killer applications, it was not enough to generate any long term enthusiasm among health care consumers.

So where is the next technological innovation?Is it Disruptive!

CategoryMain, Medicine 2.0 | Comment12 Comments »

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March 19th, 2010

Technology enablers in Health Care

by Editor

This is a new series of article on how technologies can help us in optimizing health care.

Today, smart phones have revolutionized our communications behaviors, in health care industry-personal digital assistants were once a standard tool for many physicians along with Stethoscopes and today Smart phones are gradually replacing them as necessary tools. But, using these devices as standalone will not benefit much for the care of patients, except for the physician, in that information retrieval could be faster. Using an easy to use interface which benefits not only physicians and other health care professionals but also in long term helps patients should be the goal. To achieve this goal an easy to use interface should be identified. Twitter is one such phenomenon. Imagine this. Doctors around the world are conducting their rounds and examining patients on electronic medical records. As the physician makes a diagnosis or documents symptoms, he has the option to “tweet” that observation. This allows other doctors to follow that feed and observe trends. Even better, epidemiology-specific analytic can be layered on top of the feeds to recognize specific disease patterns as they develop. This could aid in early detection of any epidemics.

The emergence of consumer health electronics such as portable ECG monitoring devices blood pressure monitors or weight scales can allow the seamless capture and sharing of patient information from home, at work or even while traveling. Portable ECG device, for instance, weigh just few ounces and allow outpatients to record electrical heart signals and transmit the results to doctors who can monitor them for trouble down the road and take necessary steps.

The current generation of ECG Devices empower consumers to take control of their heart health in wellness and illness through Artificial Intelligence technology. ECG Monitors today are Ultra light and Portable. These Handheld ECG machines which are smart phones can monitor heart rhythms at home or at fitness centers and help consumers to detect cardiovascular diseases at an early stage and avoids complications due to fatal heart rate abnormalities.

Advances in microprocessors and using CMC (computer mediated technologies) technology will allow such devices to connect  through wireless with home computers, mobile phones or even remote Internet applications enabling consumers to monitor their heart health at home. Other technologies expected to emerge include portable handheld devices that monitor and transmit vital signs and patient locations as well as blood sugar monitors that — after taking their readings — transmit the data to central databases. Database-enabled tools can then alert doctors and their patients to improve treatment of chronic illnesses.

These IT technologies in Health care industry are creating a new breed of consumers. They are Health-i-consumers are a growing breed. These are health conscious individuals who utilize internet, wireless communications and internet applications for wellness maintenance. The popularity of the Internet and the trend for all consumers to be more health conscious mean that health-i-consumers will play a dominant role in the future health care industry.

These innovations in technology help in precise diagnoses of patient’s underlying conditions and help in long term reduction of health care costs. The ultimate beneficiary will be patients as it will empower them to have control of their personal health data within their finger tips.

CategoryMedicine 2.0 | Comment12 Comments »

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