Last month I reported about the Social Media Code of Conduct released by Roche and I also shared my opinion on the issue. Now Sabine Kostevc, Head of Corporate Internet and Social Media at F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, gave an interview to Silja Chouquet:
*This blog post was originally published at ScienceRoll*
Last week, Research In Motion (RIM), the makers of BlackBerry smartphones, held a clinical collaboration summit in Boston to discuss their vision of the future of mobile device integration into healthcare IT. Several vendors and app makers attended and shared how they are implementing mobile devices into workflows with RIM claiming their superiority in security and data protection through data wiping, access control, and audit trail.
One claim that several speakers made was that hours per week could be saved by making clinical and logistical data available on smartphones and that studies have shown clinical information presented on a small screen can be used for mobile situation diagnostic ability, notably for ECG and OB data through companies like AirStrip. A few studies have backed parts of this claim, [including] a recent paper in the Journal of Hospital Medicine by Wu. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*
We recently reported our interview with Dr. Henry Feldman of the Beth Israel Deaconess in Boston and his experience using the iPad as his sole computing device while attending on the wards. Overall, his experience was positive, while accessing the hospital networks, using clinical applications and questions about security. Be sure also to check out Future Docs blog and Dr. Arora’s experience using the iPad on the wards to get more real-world perspectives on using the iPad on the wards.
Among the few difficulties Dr. Feldman had, one was that typing long notes on the glass keyboard was cumbersome, requiring the use a desktop computer for admission and discharge notes. This may now turn out to be one of the easiest problems to solve, if two recently announced iPad cases are any indication. Sena and Kensington are both releasing iPad cases with built-in bluetooth keyboards. Each has a built in battery and the cases fold into dimensions not much larger than a standard iPad case. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at iMedicalApps*
With patients having to pay more of what’s charged for their healthcare, comparisons between medical systems like this one in Pennsylvania make us wonder if bigger necessarily means better. From the Times-Tribune:
The Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council study looked at four regional hospitals that offer cardiac surgery: Geisinger Wyoming Valley, Plains Twp.; Community Medical Center and Mercy Hospital, Scranton; and Pocono Medical Center, East Stroudsburg.
Among the four, Geisinger Wyoming Valley carries the biggest price tag. In 2008, the average hospital charge for a coronary artery bypass graft surgery was $108,029 and the average hospital charge for valve surgery was $132,740, according to information in the report. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*
The man who twirled with rose in teeth
Has his tongue tied up in thorns
His once expanded sense of time and
Space all shot and torn
See him wander hat in hand –
“Look at me, I’m so forlorn –
Ask anyone who can recall
It’s horrible to be born!
– Bruce Cockburn, from song “Shipwrecked at the Stable Door”
I found the discussion around my recent post about treating colds very interesting. Sick people come to the office to find out how sick they are. Most people don’t want to be sick, and when they are sick they want doctors to make them better.
Most people.
Some people want to be sick, and some doctors want to make people sick. I am not talking about hypochondriacs — people who worry that they may have disease and become fixated on being sick. I am not talking about malingerers — people who pretend to be sick so they can get medications. I am talking about the slippery slope of defining disease. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Musings of a Distractible Mind*
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