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When the American Medical Association (AMA) released their weight loss app a few months ago many physicians, including myself, were excited about the organizations attempt at creating a patient centric app physicians would feel comfortable prescribing.
Unfortunately, their app is a prime example of how large organizations are missing opportunities to capitalize in the mHealth market place.
Striiv (@striiv) issued a major update to its Smart Pedometer with its new Activity Motivation System.
It allows users to connect their devices using unlicensed wireless spectrum over short distances, enabling them to exchange personal activity stats, as well as issue one-on-one activity challenges with real world prizes such as coffee or chores for the winner.
The company also announced the second generation of its device will be available at Best Buy retailers nationwide beginning April 29th for $99. (read more)
A new initiative currently being trialed aims to enhance and improve communication between healthcare professionals. Medigram is an app of sorts whose aim is to provide HIPAA compliant secure text messaging between healthcare professionals.
Currently, the primary method of contacting a physician is via a pager which is generally only one way communication.
Furthermore, there are often issues such as trying to find a phone which means that the current system is relatively inefficient.
Having recognized this, the team at Medigram have designed a mobile app which they hope will revolutionize communication.
The free app brings HIPAA compliant group text messaging between doctors who are signed up to the service. Medigram is currently in closed beta with physicians at Stanford Hospital, Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital and the Palo Alto VA Hospital.
Leveraging the technology that mobile device makers like Apple and Samsung are packing in to their smartphones and tablets is an increasingly common theme in the mobile health industry.
A recent patent filing suggests that a major medical device company may be joining the party.
Over a year ago, we covered the FDA approval of Mobisante’s MobiUS ultrasound, which paired an ultrasound probe with a Windows Toshiba smartphone (which we hope to see moving to Android soon!).
A recent patent filing by Sonosite, an ultrasound device maker worth over $750m, suggests they are moving towards using tablets like the iPad with future ultrasound probes.
Ophthalmology, being one of the areas of medicine that people outside of the field know very little about, has often been given the short end of the stick when it comes to the number of apps available.
I have oft-lamented this relative lack of ophthalmology apps (especially if you don’t count the Snellen Chart apps), but now the developers of Eye Handbook have seeminly set out to provide a comprehensive resource to make up for this shortage.
Eye Handbook is a huge app; I don’t mean physically because it’s only optimized for the iPhone. It is huge in its scope and huge in its ambition.
Its ambition is to be the app that ophthalmologists go to whenever they have a question about a disease, need to look up a drug, can’t find the optokinetic drum in the office, or just want to learn something new.
These are disparate objectives, but Eye Handbook takes a good shot at covering them all.
iMedicalApps is pleased to announce our first #mHealth Tweet Chat, in which we will be discussing various issues related to the role of mobile health in patient care.
You will have the chance to make connections, meet new people, and learn more about one of the most exciting topics in modern healthcare.
With this Tweet Chat, the first of its kind around mobile health, we hope to start and continue a conversation around how we can use these new tools to provide better care for all.
The Tweet Chat will take place on Wednesday, May 2, at 9pm eastern time/8pm central time on #mhealth.
mHealth Research Digest by Mohamed Elawad, BS
Nasal fractures are among the most common fractures presenting at the emergency department yet at times can be difficult to initially diagnose due to nasal edema and other factors.
Patients are often referred to an ear-nose-throat clinic after being assessed by an emergency department but a 2004 study by Karagama showed that about 80% of nasal trauma patients referred to ear-nose-throat (ENT) doctors did not show up or required no treatment. This results in unnecessary costs and wait times.
In an effort to improve the efficiency of serving nasal bone injury patients, researchers in Ireland have studied the feasibility of using pictures taken with iPhones as a means of determining if patients need to see ENT doctors or not. (read more)
The lives of physicians and other clinicians are, in general, quite busy. Mobile technology offers a lot of opportunity to make day-to-day work more efficient, whether its getting your notes done or reviewing imaging on the go. A new survey suggests that continuing education is another area where physicians are embracing mobile.
A survey by San Francisco-based ON24 and Boston-based MedData Group explored which particular aspects of mobile technology appeal to physicians. In effect, the survey was trying to measure their digital behavior, how they actually use mobile technology.
Doctors and other healthcare professionals working in the UK will be well aware of National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence or NICE.
NICE quality standards help healthcare professionals define what high quality care should look like for a specific disease, condition or clinical area.
They are based on the best available evidence, including existing NICE guidance. Existing guidelines are available from the internet but now NICE have recently launched an Android and an iPhone app to improve accessibility.
Although American Indians make up less than 2% of the US population, certain individuals of this extremely diverse ethnic group may be a significant target market for telemedicine interventions.
Researchers from different universities recently published an article summarizing their experiences offering this group of Americans telemental health services for over a decade.
The researchers summarized the lessons learned from a decade of published research articles on the effectiveness of telemental health services. They found that not only costs were lower and utlilization higher, the subjects actually had a stronger sense of privacy using telemental services than rural clinics. Of course, there were also challenges.
Editors note: The following article was a guest post by iMedicalApps Editor-in-Chief Iltifat Husain that was featured on TechCrunch. The iMedicalApps team is in the midst of a new initiative to analyze and write on patient centric apps, and this article is a preview of whats to come.
The significant adoption of smartphones among physicians has not only led to an explosion of medical apps aimed at healthcare providers, but it has also cultivated an emerging trend of health and wellness apps aimed at empowering patients.
While great innovation is happening in the health and wellness mobile ecosystem, it’s difficult for patients and physicians to navigate through the large database of apps to find ones they can actually use.
My experience reviewing health and medical apps as a writer, combined with my experiences in a high volume Emergency Department that sees a diverse patient population, has allowed me to get a unique sense of this space.
(read more)
One of the main uses for medical apps on mobile devices is as tools to support clinical decision making.
These apps can range from medical calculators such as Calculate to clinical prediction tools such as Doctor’s Toolbag from the BMJ group.
Doctor’s Toolbag contains a range of common clinical calculations and appropriate management which is supported by a wealth of evidence.
iMedicalApps is an independent online medical publication written by a team of physicians and medical students who provide commentary and reviews of mobile medical technology and applications. We receive over 400,000 views a month by the medical community. Reviews and commentary are based on our own experiences in the hospital and clinic setting and creative and content control are strictly managed by the medical professionals running the site.
