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Posts from the ‘Cancer’ Category

Dec 22

Cancer 2.0 from Pew Internet Research

Pew Internet Research published again a very interesting study focusing on cancer patients using the internet.

Findings related to the use of the internet for health information comes from telephone interviews conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates between November 19 to December 20, 2008, among a national sample of 2,253 adults. A combination of landline and cellular random digit dial (RDD) samples was used to represent all adults who have access to either a landline or cellular telephone. Interviews were conducted in both English and Spanish. For results based on the national sample, one can say with 95% confidence that the error attributable to sampling and other random effects is plus or minus 2.3 percentage points.  For results based on internet users (n=1,650), the margin of sampling error is plus or minus 2.7 percentage points. For results based on adults living with chronic disease (n=917), the margin of sampling error is plus or minus 5 percentage points.

Findings related to Americans’ use of mobile technologies comes from telephone interviews conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International between April 29 and May 30, 2010, among a sample of 2,252 adults, age 18 and older. Interviews were conducted in English. For results based on the total sample, one can say with 95% confidence that the error attributable to sampling and other random effects is plus or minus 2.4 percentage points. For results based internet users (n=1,756), the margin of sampling error is plus or minus 2.7 percentage points.

Dec 15

1 Comment

Health 2.0 News: From WHO to Medical Songs

AIDS Drugs Lower the Risk of HIV Infection
Synthetic Cell
Blood Test for Alzheimer’s
FDA Approves Botox for Migraines
Taking the Resuscitation Out of CPR
The FDA Restricts Avandia
Blood Test for Heart Attack
Predicting IVF Success
Artificial Ovary
Creating iPS Cells Safer and Faster

If it’s the latter, it may be time to find another doctor. With nearly 90% of online Americans searching the Internet for health resources, it’s likely you and your friends and family already use the Internet to research health issues. It’s true that the web has a jumble of health information, and engaging online takes time, which most health experts don’t have. The good news, however, is that the increasing number of health professionals now embracing the Internet as an important and useful tool for health and wellness is beginning to change your options as a consumer.

Research suggests that regardless of cultural differences, doctors around the world now view the internet as essential to how they practice. And around a fifth can be identified as highly ‘e-reliant’. One of the measures of this is where they get their clinical information, and more than 75% are saying they are getting that information online.

Nov 17

1 Comment

Community outreach by hospitals

When I was preparing to the next lecture of the Internet in Medicine course, I asked my friends on Twitter whether they know about examples for community outreach by hospitals. Lucien Engelen shared a great example with me. The Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre (RUNMC) helps young people with cancer to develop their own community. More details here and in the video below.

Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre starts with the development of AYA4 (All information You’ve Asked For) : a unique online community for and by young people with cancer. Soon after the scoping process one of the FIRST steps was to have the Chief Listening Office of the REshape-team start listening to doctors, nurses, patients, parents and others in the informal care. So we as a University hospital facilitated the technique, supported and drove the innovation, but were the patients themselves who determined the content of the community and started filling. They create themselves a digital place where young people with cancer and their families can meet, exchange essential information, ask questions and share knowledge and feeling.

Oct 7

Oncology: Selected Social Media Resources

Webicina.com features selected blogs, news sites, medical journals, Twitter users and Youtube channels dedicated to oncology in the newest PeRSSonalized Oncology collection. This is the simplest, customizable, free medical information aggregator. Please let us know if there are other great resources. Don’t forget the Cancer and web 2.0 collection!

You can also add custom Pubmed search boxes to your personalized journal.

Some reasons why PeRSSonalized Medicine is unique:

  • You can search in the database. It means you will find medical information only from a quality selected portion of the world wide web.
  • You can personalize any of the sections.
  • You can also receive the newest Pubmed articles focusing on your search term. Just insert your field of interest, a therapy, a condition, etc. and click Search. Then you can add the newly created box to your personalized medical “journal”.
  • It is a community-based project. Please let us know which quality resources should be added to the database.
  • You can view the selection in over 16 languages.

webicina newsletter

Jul 6

4 Comments

Pink Glove Dance

Pink Glove Dance is a really nice initiative created by the Providence Health & Services in order to generate breast cancer awareness. This is the original video.

Now several other healthcare institutions joined this movement:

Jun 11

2 Comments

Health 2.0 News: Anonimity, Virtuality and Crisis Communication

…He relates a problem of a chemo patient, a “difficult stick” for the needle people, who asked for the special IV team, who can handle difficult cases. She was told no, and got hurt. Paul asked the team to come up with a better approach. The team will now flag such patients in the system, and he asked them to convene some patients for a further discussion.

  • Christopher “moot” Poole: The case for anonymity online:

“There are a vast number of web sites where patients can obtain cancer information,” Dr. Lawrence said. “The purpose of this study was to answer one question: Is the cancer information on Wikipedia correct? Reassuringly, we found that errors were extremely rare on Wikipedia. But the way information was presented on PDQ is more patient-friendly.”

In one example, this form of surgery is aided with the use of AR imagery of a brain superimposed onto the patient’s head, giving the doctor a more tangible visualization. Another example involves being able to visualize a patient’s spine in order to more accurately place a spinal tap, or other spinal injection.

May 10

2 Comments

Cancer 2.0: A free online guide for patients and their doctors

Webicina, the first medical web 2.0 guidance service, just launched Cancer 2.0, a comprehensive resource where cancer patients and their healthcare providers can find all the web 2.0 tools that provide support or reliable health information about cancer management.

Webicina.com main page

The table of contents:

      cancer package

      Next week, we will release the first Web 2.0 Guidance Package designed for medical professionals. The topic will be rheumatology.

      Our mission is to help patients and medical professionals how to use the web as efficiently as possible.

      Please let us know which medical condition or medical specialty we should focus on next time.

      Sep 27

      Meet a cancer survivor in Second Life!

      First, there will be a medical exercise/intern meeting today at the Ann Myers Medical Center in Second Life at 10:00 SL time. (Teleport link)

      Topic: marburg.

      And you can also find a poster at the AMMC about an event organized by the American Cancer Society. Meet a cancer survivor (Child hood Leukemia) on the 28th of September at noon SL time. Details on the poster.

      Jul 9

      What’s on the web? (9 July 2008)

      First, feel free to join the Facebook group of Scienceroll.com.

      • OncologySTAT: “OncologySTAT’s mission is to improve worldwide cancer care and prevention by providing healthcare professionals with immediate integrated access to the most authoritative evidence-based information available. OncologySTAT’s commitment to international health ensures that news, research, education, and analysis from all regions of the world are covered in a publisher-, society-, and sponsor-neutral online environment. “

      May 17

      2 Comments

      Webcast: Genomic Medicine in Breast & Ovarian Cancer

      My good friend, Steve Murphy, is going to come up with something interesting again. Helix Health, the first stand alone genomic medicine practice in the US, will host a free 90-minute webcast on the 21st of May, 2008 from 1:00-2:30 PM EDT on:

      How Genomic Medicine Is Changing the Management of Breast & Ovarian Cancer

      Click here to register.

      helix-health-full.jpg

      Every hour, 150 people in the United States are diagnosed with cancer. Yet today, there are a growing number of people who are not waiting to hear that diagnosis. They are undergoing genetic testing to determine whether they have a genetic predisposition to the disease.

      That’s exactly what Jessica Queller, author of Pretty Is What Changes, did after her mother, a breast cancer survivor, died of ovarian cancer. Jessica tested positive for the BRCA1 gene mutation and faced a most difficult decision. Jessica will join David Ewing Duncan, bestselling author of Masterminds: Genius, DNA
      and the Quest to Rewrite Life, and a panel of distinguished medical and legal professionals to discuss how the doctor-patient relationship is changing and what the potential liability is for physicians in this new era of breast & ovarian cancer and genomic medicine.

      What should a doctor and patient do when a patient tests positive?
      What is the risk in taking a “wait and see” approach?
      Are there alternatives to radical surgery?
      What are potential tort issues in predictive genetic testing and medical uses of
      genetic tests?

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