Apple iPad: Promising Features For Healthcare Use and Medical Education

January 27, 2010
Posted by Iltifat Husain

imageThe iPad, Apple’s new tablet, has just been released.  The following are some quick hitting features of the iPad that the medical community should be excited about, and ones we hope will be implemented in the clinic setting.

  1. Battery life: Up to 10 hours, we mentioned in a previous post how important battery life is if Apple wants this tablet to be used in the healthcare setting
  2. Beautiful screen: The 1024 by 768 screen appears to be gorgeous by many accounts.  This screen could definitely be used to look at imaging.  The Osirix app developers (DICOM station) are surely excited.  I’d love to see how radiology films will look on this.  This beautiful screen would be great for medical textbooks as well.
  3. Pricing: at $499, definitely much less than other health care tablets.
  4. External Keyboard: Along with battery life, this is one of the most critical components that will make this tablet actually useful in clinic.  I can’t imagine typing on the actual iPad in the clinic.  It wouldn’t be easy to do and in the clinic setting, typos can lead to critical medical mistakes.

      5. We’ll have a more in depth post tonight with how the features the iPad touts can be used in the actual clinic setting.  We’re definitely excited and our medical peers should be as well.

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  • Peter
    I am pretty keen to see what will become of the iPad in healthcare as although its got the potential, I don't know how well it will sustain drops. (I've seen nurses throw mobile phones, drop them in toilets, sit on tablets etc.)

    Maybe a serious rubber sleave for it but we'll see!
  • lokenkristianna
    I would like to say the Ipad is not a new idea at all, but whenever apple makes the product, its hailed as the next big thing. Sure, it could easily be one of the new products for healthcare, patients reading up on their own illness (whichever) – but it sure isn’t new.
  • JM
    The iPad might be an advantage for healthcare, if the batterie promises still come true. Our OSS HIS/EMR myCare2x is totaly WEB based and will run smoothly on the iPad from the very beginning. Even multitasking is no problem with an applicatin running in the browser. Wait and see the critical item of battery life.
  • Jared Houck
    There is a large gap between what many HOPE the iPad will do and what it actually CAN do. Tablet PCs have been on the market for many years and promised many of the same things. The limiting factor has been (and most likely will continue to be) software. In the US, CCHIT/Drummond certification (via the ARRA stimulus) will be the badge that differentiates what healthcare facilities will actually support and purchase.
  • Iltifat Husain
    Jason great points. As of now, reading research articles and medical textbooks has been a huge pain on the iPhone's screen. This definitely opens up that portal a great deal.

    In terms of imaging, there is a great app that I mentioned in the review, Osirix (DICOM station), that does a great job with putting the imaging onto your phone. Using a USB port would actually be more of a hassle when it comes to medical imaging.
  • Jason
    I do have a question about imaging...how would you get the images on the thing? There's no USB ports, so it seems like a pretty closed system...unless the radiologist used the same imaging app, or emailed you the files. But I guess that speaks more to the widespread integration of EMR and all its iterations more than the pad.

    Still, though, would be great to have around the office, especially if they get the essential medical references on the iBookstore, or an accessmed app. I'm sure there are pubmed apps and the like already (i dont have an iphone). Top it off with an app encompassing all the literature magazines (or in the bookstore), and youve got one fancy looking deskspace saver.
  • Iltifat Husain
    Rob, you're right, definitely exciting for patient education and imaging. We'll be interested to see what companies like Voalte and others come up with
  • Rob
    Apple needs multi-tasking on both iPhone and iPad, but this looks like a winner. Great for patient education, medical images and interacting with EMR, while the iPhone slips into the pocket of the point-of-care worker's scrubs. You can expect Voalté follow this closely.
  • Iltifat Husain
    Jason, great great point. This is an Operating System issue that Apple definitely has to tackle. They are afraid battery life will really suffer if they don't do this, however, I think the functionality you mentioned is absolutely crucial.

    I think what you'll see are EMR / patient chart apps that can be paused when they are closed, so you can show your patient a video/picture and then when you open the electronic medical record app you're presented with the screen you left off on.
  • Jason
    The lack of multitasking concerns me a little. I don't know the extent of it when I heard it, but, say, the inability to keep a patient chart open while you show them a video could be very cumbersome.
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