iphone medical apps
Moving the doctor’s office on-line: milestones from the digital practice revolution [Emdat Mobile and PerfectServe Clinician]
While there seems to be a never ending stream of medical reference applications for smartphones, it might well be that medical apps for the more mundane parts of a doctor’s life that get the most use. Once outside the examination room, it seems we spend the bulk of our time charting and returning messages. Therefore, it is as much with relief as with pleasure that we welcome two iPhone applications that aim to facilitate medical transcription and handling phone calls: Emdat Mobile and PerfectServe Clinician.
Emdat Mobile
Emdat Mobile (iTunes link) is a simple application that allows dictation directly into the iPhone. It is not connected to a voice recognition engine such as Nuance’s Dragon but rather sends the recorded audio to a medical transcriptionist. Later, the transcribed record is available for viewing on the iPhone. While this may seem mundane, it is actually a very nice advance over using a digital dictaphone and special software to upload dictations.
It is likely that many readers have never heard of Emdat (“Electronic Medical Dictation And Transcription”). The company provides a web based platform for transcribed medical documents and was founded in 1999, early in the internet era . Emdat is not a transcription company but rather provides the infrastructure for independent medical transcription companies to store recorded audio as well as the finished documents. Clinicians and hospitals then use a simple web interface to edit and sign the documents.
While a lot of attention is given of late to computer voice recognition and transcription, many physicians still rely on voice dictation for documenting their patient encounters. The benefits are fairly plain, speaking is faster than typing or clicking and it does not require standing in front of a computer. Of course, many physicians who have converted to template based EHRs will say that, with time, they can document just as fast as with voice dictation. While this is likely correct, the catch is in the product. The dirty secret is that notes generated by clicking and choosing entries from templates are just barely usable as medical documents.
When you’re trying to read the notes of your colleague [in an electronic record], it’s almost impossible to figure out what happened to the patient. You have to read through two pages of all this junk that’s put in to increase billing.
iPhones and iPads take position on doctor’s wall: the future of the physical exam
Two applications, Ear Trumpet and Eye Chart hint at the promise of mobile medical applications to enhance the traditional instruments for hearing and vision testing.
Eye Chart Pro
Eye Chart Pro (iTunes link) is a clever implementation of the classic Snellen eye chart for use on an the iPad. It will also work as a quick “pocket” eye chart on the iPhone. As shown in the screenshot, the implementation is recognizable to anybody who has ever been in the doctor’s office. In practice, the clinician is supposed to hold the screen 10 feet from the patient in order to get an accurate assessment of visual acuity. In contrast to a paper chart, the letters can be randomized so patients cannot memorize the letters. Users can upgrade via an in-app purchase of $3.99 to a premium version which allows for smaller letters, which allows testing from five feet, as well as other features. The non-premium version is free, although the App store currently has it labeled as a “Limited Offer”.
The app has been one of the most popular medical apps on the website, likely in some part due to the fact it was available at the launch of the iPad. The developer (web page) states the app was the #1 medical app for two months and is being “used all over the country”. The Orange County register recently reported highlighted the app as part of a photo series on the iPad integration into UC Irvine medical school curriculum.
Epocrates adds multi-tasking support to iOS 4 – now significantly easier to use
Epocrates latest update for iOS 4 (iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad operating systems) allows for multi-tasking support, also known as “fast app switching”. If you use Epocrates consistently, this is extremely welcome news.
The app is now significantly easier to use. When you close out of the app it saves the last screen you were on – so if you have to reference that drug you just wrote a script for, you don’t have to waste time searching for it again.
If you haven’t already, make sure to check out our full review of the different premium versions of Epocrates.
ResolutionMD demonstrates how highly advanced CT & MRI manipulation can be done on a smartphone
The ability to review patients’ imaging studies on smartphones is a natural progression for mobile physicians. Most hospital PACS (Picture archiving and communication system) now allow viewing not only on any hospital computer but often from home PCs. The ability to view the same images from your iPhone would be a great boon for many physicians and several contenders are already en route to market or have arrived. In addition the extremely dense pixel resolution of the iPhone 4 Retina Display makes it an obvious target for mobile radiology viewers.
In the past, this site has reviewed two applications already available on the iPhone, eFilm (review) and OsiriX (review). One problem that any mobile imaging viewer has to contend with is the vast amount of data (in Mb) of a DICOM image set and the processing power required to perform 2d and 3d transformations. For example, OsiriX stores all the data locally on the iPhone, using WiFi to transmit whole data sets to the phone or performing queries to the PACS server to request data sets to be sent to the phone.
Residency Rater helps family medicine-bound medical students choose a residency
By: Darwin Wan, MS2
Fourth year is a tumultuous time for medical students. Although the toll of clerkships starts to grind down, students now find themselves faced with the difficult dilemma of choosing among dozens, sometimes hundreds of residency programs for further training.
For students heading to a Family Practice residency program, at least there is now an iPhone app that can help them make this difficult decision. Created by the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Wisconsin Madison, Residency Rater [iTunes link] helps medical students organize their thoughts using a series of criteria and checklists with which they can score different family medicine programs.
By providing a neat and convenient way for users to score programs on multiple criteria, this free app stimulates graduating students to consider all aspects of the program before coming to a decision – an important consideration since the computerized residency match program does not allow students to change their minds once they have submitted their choices.
Dragon releases Medical Mobile Search – a voice dictation search tool free for a limited time
Nuance, the makers of the popular desktop dictation software, Dragon Medical Dictation, have just released their first mobile medical app – Dragon Medical Mobile Search. The app allows clinicians to search online medical content on their iPhone using their voice.
The app works in a carousel fashion, refer to the pictures included to understand what I mean. Once you use your voice to look up a disease pathology or a drug, you are presented with 5 different search results: Google, IMO (ICD-9 codes), Medline, Drugs.mobi, and Medscape.
We’ve been waiting on this app for some time now. At HIMSS 2010, Nuance gave iMedicalApps a sneak peak of this application in action. The video clip of the preview is attached at the end of this post.
Also in the preview demo is the most eagerly anticipated product of theirs: Dragon Medical Mobile Recorder – their extremely popular desktop dictation software in the palm of your hand. But back to their just released Medical Mobile Search app.
The most important question regarding this app: How well does it recognize the disease or drug you verbalize?
Medical Apps Giveaway: EKG app and ICD9 app
We’re giving away 20 promo codes total on a first come basis for an EKG app and an ICD 9 app. The EKG app is ECGSouce and the IC9 app is called ICD9 On The Go.
ECG source:
This app is a extension for the website, ECGsource.com, where they claim to be the “largest online educational resource for electrocardiograms”. The app costs $1.99, while an individual subscription to the website costs $99 a year. Obviously, you get a lot more with the website subscription, but the app offers over 60 ECG images, is searchable, and has a quiz mode.
Oh, and if you want to beef up your ECG reading skills for free, check out Harvard’s ECG Wave-Maven. They have hundreds upon hundreds of ECGs you can go through, with quiz capability built in. Also remember to check out ECG apps we’ve reviewed before.
The promo codes are at the end of this post, so click through to see them.
Airstrip Critical Care gets FDA approval and can begin deploying real-time iPhone monitoring to hospital ICUs
Airstrip Technologies produces several highly designed mobile applications for real time off-site monitoring of patients. It started with Airstrip OB, which allowed real-time fetal heartbeat monitoring on the iPhone. This remarkable app (iTunes) has two components, a server component installed by the hospital that can interface with the majority of hospital monitoring systems, and apps deployed to physicians’ iPhones. The hospital pays for the server unit, the apps are free. Airstrip technologies was previously highlighted on this site (video).
From the press release:
With FDA clearance in place, AirStrip now extends its virtual real time remote patient monitoring technology to a broad array of acute patient clinical settings, which include the intensive care unit, the emergency department, the operating room, the neonatal ICU, and virtually any other care environment.
Since initially developing Airstrip OB, the company has refined a technology infrastructure for real time communication that it calls the “Airstrip OBSERVER Suite™” that allows it to more easily expand into other sectors and multiple mobile platforms.
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.”
