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Posts from the ‘Mobile’ Category

Apr 22

1 Comment

A Crowdsourcing Solution for Clinical Problems: New Smartphone App

Prognosis, which I covered before, just came up with a new application that aims at assisting medical professionals in crowdsourcing clinical problems. It differs pretty much from HealthTap as patients are not involved with this and the community is international.

The app links you to a community of medical professionals who help out each other by answering questions and clarifying doubts via their hard earned experience and academic excellence.

In order to provide a conducive, respectful platform to share questions and clarify doubts, all users are obliged to adhere to a code of conduct and thus be courteous.

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Mar 12

8 Comments

Google Glass, iWatch and IBM Watson Revolutionizing The Practice of Medicine

People have been thinking about the potential ways Google Glass could be used in medicine and healthcare. Even though it will probably be bad for your eyes, early testers seemed to love using it and didn’t feel it would distract them from anything. A few examples how it could be used in the future:

  • Displaying the patient’s electronic medical records real-time.
  • Assisting the doctor in making the diagnosis with evidence-based and relevant information from the medical literature.
  • Recording every operation and procedure from the doctors perspective. Every movement of doctors will be archived and screened for potential mistakes. (I know it’s harsh.)
  • Based on the lab tests of the patient, it will give an estimated prognosis and suggest next steps in the treatment.
  • Live consultations with colleagues as they will be able to see what I see live.
  • It will guide users through all the steps during an emergency situation. It could save lives if used by laypeople.
  • It will suggest treatment plans based on the patient’s genomic data.

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Hopefully, Google Glass will not be only a smartphone attached to our glasses:

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Such mobile technologies will make a much more significant impact on the practice of medicine than any smartphone applications so far. Fujitsu’s Generation walking stick that features GPS technology to track and monitor users was a big hit at the recent Mobile World Congress, just to come up with one example.

But what about the company that could revolutionize the use of mobile phones in healthcare? Apple is working on iWatch, a smart watch that could be used for consultations, as a pager or even for displaying fresh lab test results from the patients. While it can be a hit as well, I’m pretty sure Google Glass will rule this market for some time.

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Moreover, imagine all these technologies with IBM Watson being the brain behind them. It seems Watson will eventually fit on a smartphone and diagnose illness. If Watson could be used by Google Glass, iWatch or any other disruptive mobile technologies, even though medical professionals will have to go through the traditional educational systems, the revolution of the practice of medicine will be imminent.

Jan 31

Mobile Solutions for Patients Webinar

Yesterday, I had a chance to participate in a webinar about mobile solutions in healthcare organized by the team of Doctors 2.0 and You and Pharmaphorum. It was a vibrant discussion and I hope you will enjoy listening to that!

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Jan 21

Getting in trouble for mobile medical learning?!

I was not a popular medical student among my professors with my social media activities and mobile apps which I used during rotations to access more and more relevant information. Once I crowdsourced a diagnosis with my Twitter community. Therefore I know what it feels like to use technology among people who are reluctant to do so in medicine. And now I just came across this story:

Last year I gave my brother an iPad for his birthday since he was starting his rotations as a 3rd year medical student and I knew he would be doing more mobile learning since most of his time would be spent in the wards.

When I checked in with him during his 3rd clerkship rotation, his enthusiam had markedly dampened.

He told me he had stopped using his iPad in his current rotation — citing a bad evaluation as the reason. When I read the evaluation I was shocked.  Apparently he was “relying on his iPad too much” during clinical rounds to look up information, and not relying enough on textbooks.  So the issue wasn’t looking up information — rather, he was looking up too much “electronic” information.

Iltifat Husain, MD, the author of the article mentioned above says he doesn’t know how to solve this, but I think the only way is education (helping not only medical students but professionals as well)!

Jan 2

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16 Comments

15 Predictions in Healthcare, Technology and Innovation for 2013

Just like last year, now it’s time to publish my predictions for the new year regarding healthcare, medical technology and innovation. It seems year by year many of these predictions prove to be right which makes me glad. I hope the same thing will happen to these predictions.

  • Flexible mobile phones will be released: Flexible glass makes such developments possible. Medical professionals will love these as they are literally unbreakable. The PC era is clearly over.

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  • Fewer health-related mobile app downloads: Last year a decline in the number of downloaded smartphone apps was reported, but don’t worry, that’s a positive step. Now instead of downloading every medical app just to show them to our peers, we will use them with strategy and will make the right choices.
  • Google Glasses will hit the world market and healthcare: By bringing digital information and data in front of your eyes, it can have a bright future in everyday medicine either in the OR or during a regular examination.

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  • Google+ communities will prove to be better than Facebook groups: Google+ Communities are relatively new, but I discovered more news items and posts which are relevant to my topics in the last few weeks than on Facebook during the last few years.
  • Robotic Exoskeletons will become widely used: It’s time to use all those military and robotic developments to help the everyday lives of paralyzed people in many ways.

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  • First humanoid robots to be “born”: I’m not saying such humanoid robots would play any kind of a role in our lives now, but this certainly is going to be a very important step. Be prepared to see them in hospitals in the coming years.
  • FDA does not publish a clear guide about using social media by pharma: A year ago we published our crowdsourced and open-access guide for pharma but we do need the FDA to come out with a clear set of guidelines. Well, they won’t do that in 2013.
  • Windows tablets on the rise: I have an Android tablet, my friends use iPad and iPad Mini so I pretty much know all the pros and cons for these two systems, but when I tried Microsoft Surface, I was amazed. It definitely has a future in healthcare. Elder members in our family can learn how to use a tablet in days, even if they couldn’t learn how to use a computer for years.

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  • Cost of whole genome sequencing goes under $1000: It is possible in many laboratories from Oxford to China to sequence a total human genome for less than $1000 in less than a few hours, but it should be widely available in 2013 as an affordable service.
  • Some smartphone apps get evidence based background: There are more and more studies focusing on whether certain smartphone apps and concepts can be used in medicine and healthcare, therefore as the amount of evidence grows, doctors should be able to prescribe mobile apps for their patients besides drugs and therapies.
  • Robotic telepresence in rural hospitals: When geographical distances cause a serious limitation, we need to turn to digital technologies, but using Skype cannot always be a solution. Robotic telemedical systems should appear in such areas in 2013.

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  • LinkedIn gets close to Facebook and Google+: Regarding the professional use of social networks, LinkedIn is far more useful and efficient than Facebook and maybe better than Google+. Following the right moves and steps, I expect LinkedIn to become the most respected social network.
  • No hospital can live without social media accounts: This has been a clear trend for years, and now it’s time for every hospital manager to accept the challenge and the importance of using social networks to keep in touch with (future) patients.
  • IBM’s Watson in the medical practice. IBM’s supercomputer is being tested now at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and it should become an integrated part of medical decision making this year.
  • Health/medical businesses focus more on Twitter than on Facebook: This comes from my own experience. While Facebook ads can help you get your message to a lot of people, Twitter is more precise in communication. While it requires a different strategy, it can be more successful in conversion.

As usual, please feel free to add your tips in the comment section!

Dec 10

4 Comments

iPhone Case As An FDA-Approved EKG Machine?

Sooner or later, it was inevitable to use mobile apps and mobile health in the medical settings and now here is an iPhone case that just became an FDA-aproved EKG machine. What’s next?

Most iPhone cases just protect your phone from drops. If you’re getting fancy, it may have a fisheye camera lens or a screen-printed back. But what about diagnosing coronary heart disease, arrhythmia, or congenital heart defects? The AliveCor Heart Monitor is an FDA-approved iPhone case that can be held in your hands (or dramatically pressed against your chest) to produce an EKG/ECG–the infamous green blips pulsing patient-side in hospitals everywhere.

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Nov 28

2 Comments

The first smartphone is 20 years old!

On the 23rd of November, 1992, IBM announced IBM Simon Personal Communicator, the first mobile phone with PDA functions at the COMDEX event in Las Vegas.

Time goes by… :)

Nov 13

2 Comments

Medical App Disorder?

Have you heard about the Medical App Disorder? This is a part of a new campaign from Skyscape.

Oct 18

4 Comments

Amazing Breast Cancer Self-Check iPad Ad

This is one of the best marketing ideas ever, certainly the best regarding breast cancer self-check. An iPad ad teaches people how to perform a proper self-check even without they would know they are learning it.

 

Oct 1

1 Comment

How Physicians Should Use iPads: Tutorial

The editors of iMedicalApps came up with a great tutorial showing what apps doctors should use on their iPads for medical reasons. I’m an Android guy, but it’s still fascinating.

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