Smoking is an addiction – that’s something we all know. But the chemical addiction, i.e. the biochemical dependence that develops in a person’s brain, has been curable for quite some time. Drugs like Bupropion, Chantix, and the various forms of nicotine replacement are all pretty effective at tying a person over as their body withdraws from the nicotine they had been filling their lungs with for years or decades. What has been the bane of patients and healthcare providers alike is not really the “addiction,” its the associated behavior.

To be clear, I’m not saying that smokers are facing an easy task, but quite the opposite. Behaviors are patterns of learned behavior that become engrained in our brains, generally reinforced by stimuli such as the positive stimuli associated with smoking like taking a break from work, being at a bar with friends, or even getting the relaxed feeling nicotine generates. So the patient attempting to quit smoking is driven back to it by these stimuli – being at a bar, taking a “smoke break” with colleagues. All of this combines to reinforce smoking as a learned behavior and breaking that is the hardest part – that’s why so many smokers go clean frequently only to relapse months or even years later. So what does the iPhone have to do with this?

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For anyone interested in global health, there are a cadre of organizations that typically spring to mind as leaders – the CDC, USAID, and the Gates Foundation for example. I had the opportunity while at HIMSS to chat with folks from another organization that put boots on the ground immediately after the Haiti earthquake, is running programs worldwide on a number of endemic diseases (HIV/AIDs, malaria, lymphatic filiarisis), and operates a high-tech lab in Atlanta to develop field tools for public health workers. This is all from what I knew as a major defense contractor. But you’d never guess the that if you talk to Amy King (VP, Health IT) and Tom Verbeck (CTO, Health IT) of Northrop Grunman. Northrop entered the public health sphere just over a decade ago, looking to parlay the expertise it had developed via defense work – such as IT capabilities from intelligence projects – into a new health IT division. Since then, it has grown to employ over 200 epidemiologists along with scores of engineers, developers, clinicians, and other professionals, all of whom apply their range of talents to world’s biggest global health problems.

You may be wondering where the “mobile health” part comes in. For that, lets talk about a specific project that Northrop worked on to track HIV/AIDs in the Dominican Republic – a great anecdote of how mobile technology, on easy to use mobile devices, plus a strong IT support infrastructure can make a big difference and even turn every iPhone owner in the world into a public health field worker.

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Updated! This post has been updated below to include comments from the folks at Epocrates

The excitement and hype surrounding the announcement of Apple’s iPad have subsided for the time being, perhaps just a lull prior to the actual release in a few months. Here at iMedicalApps, we were certainly among the many believers and expected that the iPad could make significant contributions to healthcare, such as potentially replacing the physician’s clipboard or medical textbooks.

However, we did disagree at times on the extent to which the iPad could penetrate the healthcare market, for a variety of reasons. The folks over at Software Advice decided to try to get a feel for what the community at large was thinking through an interesting survey they performed. And for Apple, the results of this survey aren’t encouraging – if you believe the results.

Having spent nearly four years learning how to read medical literature, I decided to try to get a better sense of just how valid these results are especially considering the seemingly conflicting results of the Epocrates survey. Chris Thorman, who authored the article on the survey, was kind enough to correspond with me on details of the survey methodology. Here’s a look at the results and our take on what they really mean.

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We just wanted to draw attention to the 10 free promotional codes offered by Clinically Relevant Technologies for an app we recently reviewed – Low Back Pain Management Guidelines. The promo codes are in the comments section of the app review. This app helps bring the most recent American College of Physicians guidelines regarding this incredibly common problem to the point-of-care. The promotional codes can be found in the comments section of this review. If you use one of the promotional codes, please leave a comment with the code used. And be sure to share your thoughts on this app. Thanks again to Clinically Relevant Technologies for making this kind gesture to our readers!!

P.S. Check out their other apps as well, including the CORE – Clinical Orthopedic Exam app which we recently reviewed as well.

In a recent press relase, Inner Ear Solutions announced the release of iTinnitus Solutions 1.1, an app directed at sufferers of tinnitus. First, a bit of background – tinnitus basically refers an a false perception of sound caused by an abnormality in your ear (as opposed to, say, auditory hallucinations which are associated with various types of brain dysfunction). In short, its that annoying ringing that most of us get occasionally.

Some people are chronic sufferers, with their tinnitus resulting from causes including drug side effects, inner ear damage from repeat exposure to loud sounds, or even tumors on the auditory nerve. Having spent some time in an otology (ear) clinic, I saw how debilitating a problem this can be for some, however transient it may be for the rest of us. So can this $0.99 app really bring some relief to patients who are suffering?

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