Sherpaa: A New Initiative in Healthcare February 7, 2012
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Health, Health 2.0, Healthcare, Innovation, Medicine, Medicine 2.0, Web 2.0.add a comment
You all know the story of Jay Parkinson, MD who launched the first online GP service years ago in New York. After it became a “franchise”, he left and started a new company, The Future Well. A few months ago, I met him at Stanford, asked about his new projects and he mentioned the Sherpaa idea. Well, here is the official launch and the concept of Sherpaa.
To me it seems that Sherpaa tries to help patients when there are easier solutions for a health-related problem compared to using the traditional healthcare system. They give a specific example, what happens when you cut your finger:
- You call your Guide
- We ask you to snap a photo of the cut and email it to us
- We look at it and it looks like something that can be handled outside the ER
- We give instructions on what to do in the meantime as we schedule a stitch up
- We call Dr. Sung (our plastic surgeon)
- You are free to meet Dr. Sung in his office in an hour
- You are on the road to recovery
—without sherpaa
Cost in ER: $4000
Time in ER: 8 hrs—with sherpaa
Cost in Dr. Sung’s office: $1000
Time with Dr. Sung: 30 min
I believe the idea is timely and the structure is well-designed knowing Jay’s enthusiasm and proficiency. The only concern is how the healthcare system will look at their machinery. What do you think?
Ambulance crews tweet ‘working life’ February 6, 2012
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Health, Health 2.0, Medicine, Medicine 2.0, Web 2.0.1 comment so far
It seems tweeting during work hours in order to give some insights about that specific job is quite trendy these days. A few days ago, I read a BBC report about the North West Ambulance Services that started to use Twitter while working so people could feel themselves closer to the crews.
Five North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) crews from Liverpool, Burnley, Kendal, Crewe and Manchester will take part in the week-long project.
NWAS Director of Emergency Services Derek Cartwright said each crew would tweet for one day.
He said the tweets would not reveal patient details, but would show “the human side of the service”.
Then a friend from the UK informed me on Twitter (where else?) that London Ambulane has been doing the same thing for some time.
As I think this is a great idea and locally it can have a huge impact, I would love to see other examples from other countries and I count on you in collecting these examples.
Use Of Mobiles, Video And Social Networking By Physicians: Infographic February 6, 2012
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Medicine, Web 2.0, Medicine 2.0, Infographics.add a comment
I’ve recently come across an amazing infographic dedicated to the use of mobiles/smartphones, video and social media by medical professionals. A few interesting snippets and questions I raised:
- 81% of physicians are expected to own a smartphone by 2012
- 73% search the web (only 73%?)
- More physicians watch videos on WebMD than on Youtube?
- 86% of physicians use Facebook (certainly not for professional but personal reasons)
What do you think of these and the rest of the data?
Reinventing Physicians: TED Talk February 5, 2012
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Medicine, Ted Talks, Video, Web 2.0.5 comments
Dr. Jeff Benabio about reinventing physicians in the 21st century.
For over five years, Dr. Jeff Benabio has been using social media channels to help patients learn about skin health and disease and to help doctors learn about engaging patients more effectively. In his practice Dr. Benabio uses disruptive tools such as telemedicine and mobile devices to improve patient access and reduce medical costs. In his talk he’ll show us how we’re re-inventing medicine with Twitter and Facebook, and why it’s the best thing to happen to medicine since vaccines.
What happens to your online life when you die? February 4, 2012
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Health, Health 2.0, Medicine, Medicine 2.0, Video, Web 2.0.1 comment so far
I have plenty of social media accounts with many contacts and friends. I have data stored in the cloud and have a lot of passwords and files online. Have you ever wondered what happens to your online life when you die?
Well, they say over 1.7 million Facebook users died in 2011. An Australian website collected all the information you need to know from digital preservation to digital waste you would leave behind.
Hans Rosling Brings Humor to Global Health Statistics February 4, 2012
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Data, Health, science, Video.add a comment
Hans Rosling public health guru and data enthusiast shines again:
From Bionic Bodyshop to E-patient Bootcamp February 3, 2012
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in e-patient, Health, Health 2.0, Medicine, Medicine 2.0, Web 2.0, What's on the web?.add a comment
Private hospitals in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, have adopted a tech-savvy way to remind patients of their next appointment. By sending out SMS reminders, outpatients were able to keep their scheduled hospital visits and reduce the number of nonattendance. This mobile method was especially helpful and effective for patients needing ongoing treatment, for example with dengue fever.
Advanced medical devices are the tools that enable humans and robots to merge, perhaps signaling the dawn of a technological singularity. How close are we now? Take a tour and shop around — we’ve been cramming more intricate engineering into our bodies than you might think.
Evidence Based Medicine in Social Media February 3, 2012
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Health, Health 2.0, Healthcare, Medicine, Medicine 2.0, Web 2.0.4 comments
Do you remember when Google Flu Trends was launched and we were all amazed by the great idea behind that? And do you remember when a study from the University of Washington came up concluding that Google Flu Trends is not as accurate as CDC’s national surveillance programs? So it is social media, it’s trendy and innovative but useless in medicine and healthcare.
Here is the over-shined iPad2 which everyone loves and would like to use at hospitals and clinical practices and we see an amazing number of apps designed for that. A new study now concluded that diagnostic imaging on iPads is twice as slow.
A study from the University of Maryland found that radiologists using iPad 2s to evaluate patients for tuberculosis (TB) took twice as long to make a diagnosis as they did when using a 27-inch LCD monitor. Still, the study of 200 negative and 40 positive TB cases that included five radiologists, found the two displays to yield no significant differences when it came to diagnostic decisions.
Whatever tool, device or service we use in medicine, we must stick to the evidence based approach.
Top 10 Hepatitis Social Media Resources February 2, 2012
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Health, Health 2.0, Medicine, Medicine 2.0, Web 2.0, Webicina.1 comment so far
Webicina’s new Hepatitis and Social Media collection features relevant and quality social media resources from blogs and podcasts to community sites, Youtube and Twitter accounts focusing on hepatitis.
Here is my top 10 social media selection for hepatitis:
- HBV and HCV Advocate’s Hepatitis Blog (blog)
- Hepatitis B Foundation – Podcast Directory (podcast)
- Inspire – Hepatitis-C Community (community site)
- HCV Support (community site)
- Global Hepatitis Initiative (Facebook)
- Hepatitis Central (Twitter)
- Hepatitis Australia (Youtube)
- Mayo Clinic – Hepatitis (information resource)
- AnswersIn Medicine Hepatitis C (mobile app)
- Hepatitis Foundation (Youtube)
And PeRSSonalized Hepatitis, the simplest, free, customizable, multi-lingual medical information aggregator will let you follow these resources easily in a personalized way.
Feel free to share any of these resources and let us know if you think others should be added.
How To NOT Use a Medical Photo: Best example February 2, 2012
Posted by Dr. Bertalan Meskó in Conference, Medicine.add a comment
The Sterile Eye blog came up with a very tough case in which the official poster for the the 19th Workshop of the International Society for the Study of Vascular Anomalies (ISSVA) was found to be quite disturbing and Øystein Horgmo raised important questions about the use of this image.
- Did the parents of this child agree to their child being used on a poster in this way?
- Did they know ISSVA would choose a photo were their child looks frightened?
- Did they know ISSVA would make the poster the shape of their child’s head?
- Did they know ISSVA would desaturate everything but their child’shemangiomas?
- Did they know ISSVA would put text all over their child’s face?
- Even if they knew and agreed to all of the above, why did ISSVA use the photo like this?
What do you think about this?
