As the debut of the iPad fast approaches, speculation about it is reaching a fevered pitch. Scanning the thousands of articles written about the iPad’s potential, one may walk away thinking that Steve Jobs has just cured cancer, ended global warming, and established peace in the Middle East. Some people are even calling Apple’s latest creation the “Jesus tablet.” While the iPad probably falls somewhere short of some of those lofty projections, it has already done what Apple seems to do best – transformed the way we look at an existing market, in this case mobile computing and the tablet. We’ve talked previously about how the iPhone paved the way for the iPad in healthcare. Again, Apple’s entry into this market has signaled a huge shift in the way users will interact with the tablet and, through it, their environment.  This new user interface has a great deal of potential to change the way physicians deliver care. But perhaps more importantly, it could also have profound impacts on the way patients experience healthcare.

Innovative therapies

Over the past decade, there have been a number of examples of novel technologies being used either therapeutically for sick patients or in preventative care. For example, there have been numerous trials, with more success in the pediatric population, that use text messaging to remind patients to take their medications. When the iPhone transformed the user interface for the smartphone, therapies centered on that platform also emerged – autism and major depression are two conditions with iPhone apps that are therapeutic in nature. Enter the iPad. With a more advanced touchscreen, a high-quality webcam, and perhaps even 3d graphics, the possibilities become far more rich.

Take children with cancer – these kids can be hospitalized for weeks at a time and, due to the chemotherapy, stuck largely in isolation for most of that time. An app that utilizes the webcam to connect kids while playing a fun and interactive game together would provide a far richer interaction than a networked gaming console. Or consider the numerous elderly patients who succumb to delirium while in the hospital largely because, on top of being sick, life in the hospital, void of sunlight and normal sleep-wake patterns, gets so disorienting. Consider an app that, much like the mentally challenging games on the Nintendo DS, helps older patients stay a little more active during the day and perhaps ward of delirium. Will the iPad cure cancer or, for that matter, anything? No. But what it will do is provide some interesting and creative adjuncts to standard therapy that could make the patient’s quality of life a little better.

Improved patient-provider communication

In the ever growing iPhone app store, educational apps are among the most numerous. One of the biggest reasons why is because the interface allows user to interact with the material in a number of different ways. Take the Blausen Human Atlas or Pocket Heart – both of these apps allow the user to interact with anatomy in an incredibly rich way. With much more powerful graphics capabilities, these kinds of apps can certainly be taken to another level.

Consider a patient going into surgery. Today, explanation of the surgery is restricted to some form of charades by the surgeon and 2d radiology images. An app that allows 3d reconstructions of a patient’s scans to be pulled onto the iPad and manipulated would allow for a far better explanation, improving patient-physician communication. Or how about the diabetic patients or the heart failure patients? These poor folks are often subjected to hours of mind-numbing “educational” videos in the hospital – iPad apps could bring an element of interactivity that allows patients to engage with material that is critical to their health. Finally, consider the stroke patient. There are rumors that the iPad’s camera will be sufficiently sensitive to allow facial recognition. Perhaps then it could also be used to detect facial, or for that matter limb and trunk, motion with apps designed for post-stroke rehabilitation therapy. In a “game” format, individual goals outside of professional physical therapy could help empower the patient as they fight to recover.

The key opportunity that the iPad offers here is not just another platform to convey information, but a way to make it fun and engaging. While the iPad won’t replace a good physician taking the time to talk to a patient, it could certainly augment the patient-provider relationship in a fun and engaging way.

These are just a few ways that the iPad could transform the way a patient understands their illness and interacts with their healthcare providers. Among the most elusive goals in medicine is helping patients understand complex diseases and empower them to manage these conditions. Nothing will ever replace a strong patient-provider relationship, a personal support network, and evidence-based therapies based on a thorough scientific foundation. But the iPad could herald the introduction of innovative adjuncts that help patients take control of their own health and improve their quality of life.

Get yourself a copy of Pocket Heart (iTunes price is $5.99) and you’ll immediately be impressed by this app. Yes, the graphics and animations will be what first grabs your attention, but you’ll soon find out in this review that Pocket Heart is truly a good learning tool for cardiac anatomy and physiology.

What I liked about this application:

• This app is very well designed and I presume that the programming involved is also very elegant given the nature of the graphics.
• It’s really quite comprehensive in terms of its cardiovascular information, though definitely is more concerned with breadth rather than depth (i.e. this isn’t going to be enough info about the heart for medical students’ cardiac anatomy or physiology).
• I’m a very visual learner, so the ability to rotate, enlarge and move around the heart are great features! The added heart beat showing the direction of blood flow are also nice touches. But the added ability to turn all of these features on and off is even more thoughtful.
• The Quiz section is actually pretty good for testing concepts and there is also good variety in terms of types of quizzes available.
• The Video Tips (could also be called Help function) are a great little bonus.

What I did not like about this application:

• Not much actually…you have to be a bit patient for a few seconds as the app loads and when switching from one section to another – that’s really as hard as I can be on this app in its current form, but do see the “what I would like to see in future updates” heading below for how I’d like to see the program improved.
• I’m not sure that it would be that makes much of a difference, but one downside is that the program only works in Portrait mode, and therefore not in Landscape.

What I would like to see in future updates:

• Addition of some basic cardiac pathology information would be helpful, primarily in the Heart Info section, with corresponding images of the major cardiovascular changes.
• I’d like to see more of the vascular system (rather than just cardiac) in the Explore section of the app, for instance with the inclusion of models such as the pulmonary and portal circulations; I’d also love to see the ability to show a very basic model/outline of the lungs and perhaps other nearby organs to get a better sense of the regional anatomy
• If the developers really want to be bold, adding some cardiac embryology to the app would be wonderful.

Who this App would be good for:

• This app is great for medical students and other health professional students.
• It is also good for anyone else who wants to learn more about the heart in an engaging and interactive way.

Conclusion:

I really liked this app, even though it is somewhat basic in terms of its information level. The graphics are great and the app is designed very well. As a supplementary learning tool for students in health profession schools or even baccalaureate programs in biology or physiology this app will be a welcome change to having your head stuck in a textbook.

Please note the following on upcoming updates, straight from the developer:

“We’ve just submitted version 1.1 to Apple…(decreased loading times, improved usability, more intuitive labels, and new logo!)

Next version will include more detailed modeling of the heart along with added exterior vessels.”

[itunes]

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