USMLE Step 2 Secrets app allows for board studying in mobile form [Android app review]
By: Jason Paluzzi, MS4
In medical school, a student has two main jobs: study hard and take tests. While we all have different tests and evaluations based on which school we go to, we all inevitably have to run the gauntlets of the USMLE Step 1 and Step 2.
Most medical students seem to agree that First Aid for the USMLE Step 1 is the single best resource for that exam. Unfortunately, there isn’t much consensus on the best study tool for Step 2.
One of the commonly recommended, broad-scope resources is USMLE Step 2 Secrets, a question and answer format text meant to be a review of material leading up to the test.
Skyscape has converted this book to mobile app format for on the go studying of clerkship material. In this android medical app review I’ll do an in depth review to see how the book translates over to mobile form.
Google shows how mobile health care apps can sync with their personal health record
At the recent O’Reilly Open Source Convention (OSCON), Google took time to show mobile apps they have created that can collect what most would consider benign everyday data, such as how much you run everyday. This type of data collecting, “Observations of Daily Living”, can be entered into your Google Health personal health record.
There was one app that was extremely interesting and could hold some real implications towards research:
One researcher uses a sensor, stuck into an inhaler, to feed data to a phone and collect information on where and when people have asthma attacks. If we collect a lot of data from a lot of people over time, we may learn more about what triggers these attacks.
We’ve reviewed a similar app like this for the iPhone, called AsthmaMD, but Google’s version has some serious differences – you wouldn’t have to manually input data into your phone.
Some of the other health care related apps mentioned were:
Cardiothoracic surgeon develops app to predict risk of heart surgery
Dr. Edward Bender of Missouri has released five iPhone apps, all designed to assist patients and surgeons contemplating cardiac and thoracic procedures. His newest iPhone app, CTSNetWiki, gathers data from all the major cardiothoracic societies to allow patients and doctors to compute the risk of various heart surgeries.
In this interview with the South East Missourian, Dr. Bender remarked
If I’m talking to a patient and they want to know their chances of [surgical] complications, I can just whip this out and tell you how your case compares to the other four million in the database.
Dr. Bender said he’s working on a grant application to help with funding and to expand the business. While many app developers seek clinicians to help identify worthwhile clinical projects, there is a unique advantage to a physician who can play both roles. We look forward to seeing what Dr. Bender dreams of next. [St. Louis Business Journal]
Archimedes 360 is a medical calculator that can answer the most common or the most obscure questions [Android app review]
By Jason Paluzzi, MS
Information is everything in the field of medicine. Often, it’s necessary to evaluate laboratory or prognostic data in ways that even the most up to date medical computer system cannot provide. Other times you may want to evaluate a patient’s prognosis quickly for point-of-care medical decisions or for speaking with family members. For these reasons, it’s useful to have a quality medical calculator on hand.
This is where Archimedes 360 comes in. While some calculators focus on a specific subset of medicine, Archimedes aims to be an all inclusive calculator, with well over 200 equations (In all honesty, I didn’t count, but I’ll take Skyscape’s word for it). These equations vary in scope from physiological principles (such as the A-a gradient) to prognostic values (ABCD2 stroke score) to pharmacology and population-epidemiology.
Real-Time Glucose Monitoring in Diabetes – Mobile Tech That’s Making a Difference
Insulin management is a nightmare. As a physician, even I have trouble sorting out how much short-acting and long-acting a patient needs through the day – what dose sliding scale to choose, how to adjust from Insulin Aspart to Lantus, how to pick the dose of insulin for the current blood sugar and anticipated meal. It’s tough. Fortunately, it’s my job and I have great support in the form of an EMR, endocrinologists, and others to help me whenever I need it. So for my patients, I can only imagine the daunting task they face on a day-to-day basis.
Frog Dissection lets you see the insides of a frog while keeping your iPad clean
We could not miss the chance to highlight the first (we believe) animal dissection app for the iPad. Frog Dissection by Punflay shows you, in about a dozen quick steps, how to open up the abdomen and chest of a frog and see what the various organs are.
The app has already garnered the PETA Mark Twain Ethical Science award. We are not sure if this will start a new venue of competition among medical app developers but it certainly shows off the different ways in which medical education and a tablet device could converge.
Verizon and Samsung launch the “Geriatric phone” made for senior citizens
Verizon Wireless and Samsung have partnered up to launch the Samsung Haven – a phone clearly designed for an older population. While some might feel the keyboard on this phone is archaic, to those not as tech savy, it might be a relief from all the crazy touchscreen phones flooding the market.
Whats interesting about this phone, and why it could definitely appeal to senior citizens, is it’s “Life Style Features”. Some of the following are features of note:
*Fitness trainer that offers 15 unique stretching techniques
*Four different healing music selections to help relieve stress
*Medical information application that lets users make medical notes and stores their information such as allergies and medications
The phone even has a dedicated one-touch quick access to 911 and In Case of Emergency (ICE) contacts. The ICE buttons can be customized with up to three contacts that first responders (EMS) can easily find in case of an emergency.
Google’s use of mobile health technology in Haiti could foreshadow their plans for mobile medicine
Dr. Roni Zeigler, Chief Health Strategist at Google, recently released a fantastic video shows how mobile technology was and is being used in the continued response to the Haiti earthquake.
Interesting takeaways from the video[embedded below]:
1) The video shows how physicians have been using their iPhone’s to document patients – making electronic health records on the fly so follow up care can be improved.
2) FrontlineSMS and others have built a SMS short code so healthcare provides can send a message to the 4636 short code, and that information can be aggregated and mapped to show current healthcare needs in a particular area [picture on left].
3) Google has developed an application called “Resource Finder”, in collaboration with the NGOs on the ground (5:31 mark of video).
How HealCam could flourish by being more exclusive
In case you missed it, our friends over at MedGadget have started a new interactive service for those with medical conditions, called HealCam. HealCam allows you to talk to other with the same condition as yours.
For example, if you have diabetes, you can be connected to a random person with diabetes.
When you click next you’re connected to another person with diabetes. Currently the following conditions are available: Diabetes, Weight Loss & Dieting, Depression, Cancer, Pregnancy and Childbirth, and Heart Disease. Â Other conditions are being added as well.
This model appears similar to Chatroulette, a interactive service that connects you with random people via webcam. Â The issues with Chatroulette have been documented in detail by the NYTimes. Â Basically, you often times end up seeing things you don’t want to see, and seeing people do things you don’t want to see – there is no screening process.
Thats why this current iteration of an interactive web chat experience offered by HealCam has some real potential – it targets a more selective user base. Â In my opinion, I think users with rare medical conditions are the ones that are most likely to benefit.
Home Health services utilizing mobile technology for better patient care
It only make sense for mobile health services to get involved with mobile technology. We’ve reported before how health systems are utilizing the iPad itself for its mobile healthcare workers – hospice and home health nurses. Home health services enable patients to get out of the hospital faster – which usually means better outcomes.
Whiteglove House Call Health is another home health service just recently getting into the mobile tech fray:
“WhiteGlove Mobile allows our members to schedule a visit, view their medical history, visit history and membership status — all from their iPhone or iPod Touch,” says Michael Grabert, WhiteGlove’s vice president of software development.
“This is one example of an innovative solution we’ve developed in order to enhance our members’ health care experience.”
MedWaitTime iPhone application lets patients know if their doctor is running late
MedWaitTime is an interesting application that allows subscribing doctors and emergency rooms/urgent care centers post their schedule availability online. Patients can download the free application and enter their appointment time and their doctor’s name. The doctor’s office updates their status as necessary, or if they are available for walk-ins. The service appears to be supported by subscription fees to physicians of $50/month or $300/month for facilities.
This is part of a trend of real-time communication between patients and care-providers to help all of us avoid spending time in that most dreaded of places – the doctor’s waiting room. Another interesting service in the same vertical is ZocDoc (reviewed on this site) which is rapidly growing by combining physician rating with on-line scheduling for patients.
