iPad medical
Apple’s success as enterprise solution in the business world bodes well for healthcare
One of the issues we’ve discussed previously is that, when it comes to iPhone and iPad acceptance in healthcare, compatibility with the more traditional enterprise solutions could turn out to be a problem for large scale adoption of iOS 4 devices.
There was a fair amount of concern that the iPhone and iPad, as consumer electronics, would lack the necessary business-oriented features to ever be widely adopted by corporate America, let alone healthcare.
However, a recent article in the Wall Street Journal suggests that Apple may be making major inroads when it comes to adoption as a business-wide mobile solution and this time with the blessing of corporate IT.
Patient interaction with the iPad and the disconnect between health IT and medicine [iPad Makes the Rounds: Part 3]
This is a continuation of a recent post where we reviewed Dr. Henry Feldman’s experiences using the iPad as his primary interface during a busy week serving as a hospitalist at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital (BIDMC) in Boston.
In part 1, we reviewed his original post and his positive report on the iPad’s wireless networking capabilities, ability to easily access web-based hospital clinical applications and interactions with patients using the iPad. In part 2, Dr. Feldman detailed his experiences of what it actually like to carry the iPad around the wards and what types of clinical applications he accessed.
Below is the conclusion of our interview with Dr. Feldman, where he discusses how exactly his patient interactions were enhanced by the iPad. Also, we delve into his dual role as both a physician and a health IT specialist, and how these two seemingly separate worlds are so key to the overall healthcare experience.
On average, how often did you hand your iPad to a patient to show them something ?
I only handed it to a couple of patients, but showed results to almost every patient with me holding it (infection control). It really helped to show them lab results, pictures of their GI studies, EKG, etc, as patients rarely can visualize these results in their heads. This was invaluable.
The iPad Makes the Rounds: Part 2 – Portability, Security and Infection control on the Hospital Wards
This is a continuation of a recent post where we reviewed Dr. Henry Feldman’s experiences using the iPad as his primary interface during a busy week serving as a hospitalist at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital (BIDMC) in Boston. Dr. Feldman is also the Chief Information Architect for the Harvard Medical Faculty Physicians.
In this post we interviewed him about his experiences of using the iPad on the wards and focus on three main topics: security, portability, and infection control. In the forthcoming part 3, we will discuss his observations on patient interactions using the iPad and the role of physicians in directing development of clinical applications.
How did you carry your iPad ?
Just in my hand like a book with the Apple case. I thought that on a 14+ hour day it would be tiring, but it never was an issue. I often put it down next to me to write a handwritten note, and I can’t imagine any physician not being near a flat surface once in a while.
The iPad makes the hospital rounds: report from a busy week on the wards – Part 1
Recently, we had the chance to check in with Dr. Henry Feldman. He had posted a detailed summary of his experiences using the iPad as his main interface while rotating on service for a week as a hospitalist at Beth Israel Deaconess hospital (BIDMC) in Boston. Dr. Feldman is also Chief Information Architect for the Harvard Medical Faculty Physicians. His report was published on Dr. John Halamka’s great blog “Life as a Healthcare CIO” on June 11.
In part 1, we summarize his initial report which was enthusiastic on several important fronts. The summary of the following report includes his experience with the hospital wireless networks, using his hospital’s electronic health record system, interacting with patients using the iPad and how the battery life fared with clinical use. Later, in part 2, we will post an interview with Dr. Feldman to get more detail on his experiences.
Dell offering deep discounts for physicians adopting electronic medical records
With all the talk of the adoption towards electronic medical records (EMR) and questions about software choices – people tend to forget the hardware needed to run such records. Dell is trying their best to create as many partnerships as possible with EMR vendors and physicians hoping to adopt EMRs. Apple has also tried to foster these relationships, but compared to Dell its efforts have been significantly weaker.
Just recently Dell teamed up with Practice Fusion, an EMR vendor for small practices famous for marketing themselves as the fastest growing free electronic health record company – and are offering deep discounts through this partnership.
The partnership with Practice Fusion is by no means the first relationship with an EMR vendor for Dell. They have over 20 partnerships with electronic health vendors, ranging from Allscripts to Athena Health. Dell even has a dedicated number and email address for those who are interested in buying hardware for electronic health records: 1-866-Dell-EMR and Dell_EMR@Dell.com.
So exactly how deep are these discounts?
iAnnotate PDF App for the iPad – Almost one of the best apps for medical professionals and students on the iPad [App Review]
Update: Per reader requests, we’ve made direct links to the pictures in this article now, so they should show up full screen with only one click now
If you have an iPad, iAnnotate PDF is almost a must have application for healthcare professionals and students. I’ll explain the almost part later.
No matter where you are in your career in medicine, you’re reading PDF files constantly – it’s what keeps your evidence based clinical skills up to date. And as we all know, PDF files aren’t exactly optimized for the iPhone or other mobile devices. Rather, the two column appearance that dominates journal layouts is displayed horribly on mobile devices.
When the iPad was first released, I was looking forward to a host of medical applications, but unfortunately, most developers have been slow to convert their medical apps to the iPad format. I’ve documented the show transition in prior posts. But PDF viewing apps such as Papers, GoodReader, and now iAnnotate have not disappointed – and were quickly released with the iPad in mind.
With the iPad’s larger real estate, I knew viewing PDF files would be significantly easier, but I didn’t know how much I could do with them until I tried iAnnotate PDF. This app allows you to annotate in ways you couldn’t even do if you had a paper version of literature with pens and highlighters. However, it does have some flaws that we’ll get into later in the review.Â
California Hospital ordering iPads for healthcare use
One of the most important apps for healthcare providers might not be a medical app after all, rather a business app, called Citrix Receiver for iPad.  This app allows your to have secure access to virtual desktops, applications, and data – those of you who have accessed your hospitals electronic health record when off campus are using this type of software. Hospital systems can use the Citrix app to access their own servers and desktops, as shown in the above video, and display key information on their iPad.  The data can be accessed as long as you have a Wi-Fi or a 3G connection, allowing you to become mobile.
Is More Better? Lexi-Comp on the iPad – An Incredibly Comprehensive Resource [iPad Medical App Review]
Lexi, a medical information provider for 30 years, is making news by releasing an iPad-compatible version of its comprehensive drug and disease database. This is notable not only because of the depth of its databases but also because it’s beating other medical players to the iPad door – including Medscape, Epocrates and Evidence Central – all of whom have iPhone apps in the market but have not yet released iPad versions.
The evolution of mobile computing will help redefine the competitive landscape for point-of-care clinical information solutions. Lexi, a name not commonly heard among the most familiar iPhone medical information apps, has been selling its products to hospitals and physicians since 1978. A look at its website shows that it has a complex, multiple-tiered pricing structure, allowing individuals and institutions to choose which subset of its many databases they want to license. It has also made these databases available on multiple smartphone platforms. In an era where Medscape and Epocrates are offering substantial amounts of information for free, it may be understandable that many medical students and residents have not yet downloaded Lexi’s applications, although their hospital librarians may be quite familiar with them.
New iPad Demographics Suggest the Medical iPad Could Be An Easier Sell to Healthcare Providers
The iPad is a pretty cool device, as you may have gathered from our healthcare perspective comprehensive review of it. And with the iPhone OS 4.0 bringing some new features to this powerful platform, the iPad certainly has a lot of things going for it.
In particular, the enterprise and security features of the new operating system will further lower the barriers to adoption of the iPad in healthcare. We could finally have a user-friendly and practical mobile device on which to the access radiology images, enter orders, educate patients, and so on – the beginnings of a revolution in healthcare workflow.
However, whether the iPad will overcome the biggest hurdle of all – adoption by a generally late-adopting profession – remains up in the air. But at least one report suggests that this may not be that much of a hurdle after all.
