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Medical School To Require Incoming Students To Purchase iPads

In a little seen nugget published in an article of the Chronicle, the Ivy League medical school, Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, will be requiring their incoming medical students to use the Inkling e-book app for key medical textbooks in their first year of medical school.

They will be requiring their incoming first year class to purchase iPads as well.

We have been the first to report how and why Inkling is a game changer in the arena of medical e-books when we reviewed Ganong’s Review of Medical Physiology:

Ganong’s Review of Medical Physiology for the iPad allows you to highlight, write notes, view innovative multimedia modules, and easily search for content — taking what you can do on a paper based textbook to a higher level — and taking e-learning to a completely different stratosphere.

The three key Inkling textbooks that will be required by Brown University’s medical school: Essential Clinical Anatomy, Grant’s Atlas of Anatomy, and Bates’ Guide to Physical Examination and History Taking.

The medical school’s director of preclinical curriculum, Luba Demenco, had the following thoughts to share with the Chronicle on the iPad implementation into the curriculum: Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at iMedicalApps*

iPhone App Can Substitute For Expensive Pulse Oximeter

The Electrical and Computer Engineering in Medicine (ECEM) research group in collaboration with the Pediatric Anesthesia Research Team (PART) at the University of British Columbia have developed a mobile solution to measuring key vital signs — called the “Phone Oximeter”.

The Phone Oximeter uses a traditional FDA approved pulse oximetry sensor, but researchers have modified it to interface with a phone, in this case, your iPhone. Currently the setup is being interfaced with an iPhone for trial studies, but is compatible with Android, and other mobile operating systems.

What makes the Phone Oximeter special is its ability to capture SpO2 (blood oxygen saturation), heart rate, and respiratory rate — then dynamically comprehend the variables using the decision support software, giving medical staff or even laymen individuals key help in making decisions on medical care.

So how would a device like this be useful in the medical setting? Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at iMedicalApps*

Will Physicians Soon Trade In Their Stethoscopes For Tiny Ultrasound Machines?

Recently, the Wall Street Journal did a great piece on how mobile technology is being used in medicine. They looked at the major avenues of use — from the hospital to personal to emergency care settings.

They gave an example of how a cardiologist has stopped carrying a stethoscope, and now just uses mobile ultrasound, a modality we have highlighted numerous times in the past.

Dr. Topol, a cardiologist in San Diego, carries with him instead a portable ultrasound device roughly the size of a cellphone. When he puts it to a patient’s chest, the device allows him to peer directly into the heart. The patient looks, too; together, they check out the muscle, the valves, the rhythm, the blood flow.

“Why would I listen to ‘lub dub’ when I can see everything?” Dr. Topol says. Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at iMedicalApps*

Free iPhone App For Cancer Patients: A Must-Have Tool From ASCO

Cancer.net, an oncologist approved cancer information site from the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), has released a free iPhone and iPad app — full of handy features for cancer patients.

The free app allows cancer patients and their family members to look up pertinent information based on cancer type and download a wealth of oncology related information in the form of videos, podcasts, and up to date articles.

Where the app truly shines is in there key features: Ability to store questions, medications and symptoms.  The way this app implements these key features is absolutely stunning, and makes the application a must have for cancer patients and their family members.

This review will explore these features and how your patients can use this app.

Questions Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at iMedicalApps*

iPhone Surpasses Android In Breadth Of Healthcare Apps For Physicians

Last month on match day, fourth year medical students from around the country — myself included — found out where we’ll be doing our residencies.

I was extremely excited to find out I matched at my home institution, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, to do my Emergency Medicine residency, a program rich in EM culture and innovation.

Almost immediately after “The Match”, iMedicalApps received emails from fourth year medical students questioning what type of mobile device they should purchase for residency — almost all asking between an iPhone or Android.

We even found out some residency directors were already making suggestions for the incoming residents, choosing the iPhone. Below is an excerpt from one such e-mail:

If you are considering a change in mobile companies, please look carefully at an iphone. There are many apps that we will be using in the near future and it would be a significant benefit to have one.

After much debate between the editors at iMedicalApps, we have came to the conclusion that the choice of smartphone for not only a resident, but for physicians and others in healthcare has now become abundantly clear — the iPhone.

Here’s why. Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at iMedicalApps*

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The Spirit Of The Place: Samuel Shem’s New Book May Depress You

When I was in medical school I read Samuel Shem s House Of God as a right of passage. At the time I found it to be a cynical yet eerily accurate portrayal of the underbelly of academic medicine. I gained comfort from its gallows humor and it made me…

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Eat To Save Your Life: Another Half-True Diet Book

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