Internal Medicine News, an independent bimonthly newspaper founded in 1968 that is also available online, has finally arrived to the iPhone and iPod Touch in app format.
Owned by Elsevier’s International Medical News Group division, the Internal Medicine News App seeks to bring this leading source of healthcare policy and research development news that affects patient care to mobile devices.
Led by an impressive editorial staff and an illustrious editorial advisory board, Internal Medicine News strives to provide coverage of medical insights and developments that is “fair, balanced, and accurate.”
Read below to see how the Internal Medicine News App stacks up.
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In the initial review of Surgical Intern Survival Guide , we concluded that the app was a simple starting point that could help the fresh surgical interns get their bearings.
In the few months since our review, the authors have given the app a facelift, in both appearance and content.
On that same plane, the app (which was only available for the iPhone a few months ago) is now also available for the iPad. (read more)
One major contributing factor to the skyrocketing cost of health care in the US is the high rate of readmission among patients.
A recent Dartmouth Atlas Project report found that 2009 30-day surgical readmission rates were 12.9 percent, unchanged from 2004, while 30-day medical readmission rates rose to 16.1 percent in 2009 from 15.9 percent in 2004.
The study also found that patients failed to see a primary care physician within two weeks of discharge, a step that can often help avoid readmission and improve outcomes.
Pipette (@usepipette) is using mobile technology to try and address this problem and enable clinicians to keep close tabs on their patients during the critical 30-day period following discharge from inpatient setting. Their mobile application suite, which covers 100 percent of mobile devices using a variety of SMS, native apps and web apps, enables clinicians to passively capture crucial patient feedback regarding their day-to-day recovery. (read more)
Iltifat Husain MD contributed to this post
For diabetics, mainly those who are insulin dependent, checking finger stick blood glucose levels is standard practice.
While effective, engineers at Brown University have designed a new biochip sensor that can check blood sugar levels by measuring glucose concentrations in saliva instead.
The significance of this is that human saliva is typically about 100 times less concentrated than in blood, so in the past, getting accurate results has been elusive at best.
The technology is made possible by combining nanotechnology, nanoparticles and surface plasmonics. Plasmons are density waves of electrons, created when light hits the surface of a metal under precise circumstances. Plasmonics have various roles ranging from physics to lithography, microscopy to biotechnology. (read more)
by: Brian Chau, MS3
The clinical process of evaluating suspicious skin lesions is often taught in medical school through the ABCDE method.
Student physicians are taught to evaluate said lesions based on Asymmetry, irregular Borders, multiple Colors, Diameters > 6mm, and Enlarging lesion.
Dermoscopy is a non-invasive, clinical examination of skin lesions with the aid of a dermatoscope. This process utilizes a liquid medium between a magnifier, a transparent plate, and a polarized light source to allow physicians to better visualize lesions.
It’s an important technique, used by dermatologists to aid in distinguishing between a benign growth and a malignant lesion. For students and residents interested in learning more about this process, Dermoscopy: An Illustrated Self-Assessment Guide app is an attractive option on the iOS.
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Harrison’s Principles of Internal Medicine is regarded as one of the premier textbooks for physicians through to medical students.
Primarily aimed at internists, it is accessible to medical professionals at all levels with its fundamental clinical medicine coupled with an explanation of underlying pathophysiology. Now in its 18th edition, it is without doubt one of the most recognizable and useful resources to practicing physicians today.
iMedicalApps has previously reviewed Harrison’s Manual of Internal Medicine for the iPhone here but today we take an in-depth look at the full Principles of Internal Medicine for iPad as it has now arrived via the Inkling platform. Inkling is renowned for taking classic textbooks and ‘reinventing’ them with a range of interactive features and media.
By their own admission, Harrison’s has been the most ambitious project to date and has taken over a year to complete the transformation to the iPad.
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With the launch of the West Health Policy Center, Gary and Mary West have added another front in their philanthropic assault on the institutional inefficiencies of the health care system.
This time they are establishing a presence in Washington DC focused on enticing the most talented post-doctoral research fellows to compete for one of five fellowships targeted to the goal of using empirical data to identify $100 billion worth of systemic inefficiencies in the health care delivery system.
Independently funded by a multi-year, multi-million dollar commitment from the Wests, the Policy Center is the only non-profit, non-partisan organization with the single aim of lowering health care costs. Among other things, the Policy Center will initially work to create an efficient medical marketplace by advancing;
- Infrastructure Independent Care
- Price Transparency
- Rational Reimbursement
- Practical Regulation
- Appropriate Care Utilization
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Recording notes about a patient is standard practice among physicians and has often left patients curious about what is written down about them.
While federal law guarantees patients the right to examine and get copies of their medical records, it hasn’t always been an easy process to go through.
In fact, there has been some reluctance on doctors to reveal this information in a timely manner. Misunderstanding the notes is a concern for doctors. Many clinicians are troubled by the prospect that patients may get confusing news without a healthcare provider available to explain the context of the information. (read more)
The medical education learning environment is rapidly evolving with the development of mobile technology, high speed internet and the improved connectivity with learning institutions.
These developments have enabled huge growth in less traditional learning tools such as online textbooks, anatomy videos, video lectures and a whole host of other resources. Podmedics is a site designed by UK foundation doctor Ed Wallitt and contains a vast range of podcasts for medical students and junior doctors alike.
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There are few, if any, large corporations that use mobile technology to engage their customers as effectively as Louisville, KY-based health insurer Humana.
The company’s Games 4 Health program is among the most innovative mobile health programs anywhere and the projects like B-Cycle are revolutionizing bike sharing and incentivizing healthy lifestyles.
I recently had a chance to hear Julie Kling, head of mobile strategy for Humana, outline the company’s strategy during a panel discussion at the December mHealth Summit in Washington, DC. I was very impressed by her understanding of how mobile technology can improve customer engagement and provide information to patients at critical points in the care delivery process. What was clear from the panel is that other large health plans and wellness organizations could stand to learn a great deal from Humana.
I was able to interview Julie Kling following the mHealth Summit to gain some insights on how Humana develops its mobile apps, what specific problems they hope to solve for their members with their mobile products and services, and how her experience as a nurse helps inform her vision for keeping Humana on the cutting edge of mHealth innovation.
See the transcript of my discussion with Julie Kling below.
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mHealth Research Daily with Tim Bredrup
Today, approximately 50% of U.S. adults do not meet the recommended levels of physical activity, particularly women and minorities.
Although mobile technologies are promising tools for delivering physical activity interventions, it’s necessary to understand how to effectively apply them in efforts to increase and maintain physical activity in physically inactive women.
To address this need, researchers at University of California in San Francisco have designed a mobile phone based physical activity education (mPED) clinical trial that examines the effectiveness of a mobile phone and pedometer based physical activity intervention. (read more)
by: Perry W. Payne, Jr., MD, JD, MPP
A recent article published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research focused on the development of better standards for reporting randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that use web-based or mobile health interventions.
The authors of the study were building on a prior initiative to improve suboptimal reporting of RCTs called the “Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials” (CONSORT) statement. The researchers thought that the reporting of web-based and mobile health interventions in RCTs raised unique issues.
As a result, the goal of this study was to modify the CONSORT statement and develop a novel checklist for researchers and journals in order to improve the reporting RCT web-based and mobile health interventions. This is an important step in the evolution of mHealth because documenting the efficacy of mobile and electronic interventions is critical to wide adoption by payors and policy makers.
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