July 26th, 2011 by Medgadget in News, Research
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Care Innovations, a joint venture between GE and Intel, has released Connect, a service designed to address social isolation in seniors.
Connect software runs on a touch screen device and features social networking, as well as health management and reporting tools. The system has been undergoing a successful user trial at a nursing home in Michigan since last year.
More about Connect from the announcement: Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*
July 6th, 2011 by admin in Health Policy, Opinion
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America’s ICUs are in crisis. Consider these staggering statistics: Today’s ICUs Serve 4 million patients annually, with roughly 20 percent mortality rates among those treated. On average, every patient admitted to the ICU suffers 1.7 potentially life threatening errors every day and estimates show that patients only receive half of the therapies that they should. And 50,000 patients annually die in the ICU from preventable deaths.
But research indicates that ICU patients have lower risks of death and shorter ICU and hospital stays when an intensivist is on duty in the ICU and oversees patient care. The mortality reduction has ranged from 15 to 60 percent lower than in ICUs where there are no intensivists. However, the Committee for Manpower for Pulmonary and Critical Care Services predicts a shortage of 10,000 ICU physicians, called intensivists, who have extra training to specialize in the care of the ICU patient. This national shortage of intensivists makes it extremely difficult to find intensivists that can provide 24/7 care for today’s ICU patients.
The answer to solving this crisis has emerged from the world of telemedicine. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*
June 15th, 2011 by Michael Kirsch, M.D. in Opinion
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At this writing, I am in Atlanta visiting our daughter at Emory University. This may be the only college campus in the nation where you can’t buy Pepsi. Coke is King here. If you don’t know this, do some due diligence before you or someone you love interviews here.
I remember a few decades interviewing at the medical school here. There are only 2 medical school interviews that I recall after all these years. At N.Y.U. School of Medicine, the canny interviewer asked me what the death rate of Americans is. I correctly responded, “100%”. I suppose that untangling enigmatic questions was an N.Y.U. admission requirement, since they did accept me, and I did attend. The other medical school interview I still recall was at Emory, although it’s not the questions I remember. Their unique interview format made the experience memorable. Three medical school applicants were interviewed simultaneously as we faced a bank of questioners. This was reminiscent of the ancient and popular TV show, The Dating Game, where 3 bachelors or bachelorettes heard their competitors’ responses and often had to respond to the same questions. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at MD Whistleblower*
June 14th, 2011 by admin in News
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SHL Telemedicine has announced the release of SmartHeart, a lightweight and portable device that they claim can take “hospital-grade” ECGs by “anyone, anywhere, anytime.” The device connects wirelessly to smartphones and can transmit the ECG to a physician for a preliminary diagnosis. The possibilities for a device like this are endless – but so are the questions it raises.
The device greatly streamlines the process of obtaining an ECG as it avoids the need to actually come in to a clinic and can be used to monitor high risk patients from their own homes. The smartphone can then transmit the ECG to an office or a hospital where health care professionals can examine them instantly. As cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the US, a low-cost and easily used cardiovascular diagnostic device could have a huge impact on a sizeable part of the population. SmartHeart is set to cost $500, which is less than an iPhone itself.
However, a portable ECG device that anyone can supposedly use raises some major concerns. The first question is its practical application. For a patient to just have this at home implies that they are at high risk for cardiovascular events. Arrhythmias typically require continuous cardiac monitoring rather than a 10-second ECG, which this device does not appear to provide. So, is this device intended to Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at iMedicalApps*
May 20th, 2011 by RyanDuBosar in News
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Seven percent of U.S. physicians use online video conferencing to communicate with any of their patients, according to a study of physician digital adoption trends.
The study captures a snapshot of technology, including mobile platforms, electronic health records, electronic prescribing and interaction with patients, pharmaceutical and health care market research company Manhattan Research said in a press release.
Psychiatrists and oncologists are more likely to be using video conferencing with patients. But physicians added that reimbursement, liability and privacy are still major barriers to communicating online with patients.
Major findings include: Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*
