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Physicians, Technophobia, And Costly Communication Gaps

I was talking to a fellow physician about a mutual patient.  I had information  that would help him in their care and he was taking the unusual step of asking me for my information.  I was impressed.

“Could you fax me those documents?” he asked.  ”Here’s my fax number.”

I scrambled to get a pen to write down his number.  Then I had a thought: “I could email you those documents much easier.  Do you have an email address?”

Silence.

After a long pause, he hesitantly responded, “I would rather you just fax it.”  He said no more. Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Musings of a Distractible Mind*

Why The iPad Is Not Ready For Prime Time in Healthcare

First off, I need to address those who think they’re being brilliantly funny comparing Apple’s new product name to a feminine hygiene product – making comments like “Does it come with wings?” and “It’s light and easy to use, but can you swim with it?” (these are the cleaner comments I’ve seen), or calling for the next generation ITampon.

Since when did the word “Pad” become unusable in public discourse? And where were these folks when IBM came out with their Think Pad? It’s stupid, 12-year old funny and just plain dumb. Grow up, ladies and gents.

Now, on to more serious matters.

Is the IPad, as some are suggesting, the next big thing in Medicine? Dana Blakenhorn at ZDNet thinks so, calling medicine the IPad’s “Sweet Spot”- Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at The Blog that Ate Manhattan*

Med Students Better At Finding Information On Facebook Than In EHRs

Generation Y medical students are supposed to be the tech-savvy ones. As it turns out, they may be more familiar with Facebook than with the electronic health records they’ll likely use in their medical practice. (Modern Physician, free-registration required)

Educators at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine assessed nearly 190 fourth-year medical students on their use of EHRs during a mock encounter simulating a cancer patient hospitalized with complications from chemotherapy.

Students were scored on their ability to find information crucial to the patient’s case within the EHR and their ability to analyze the EHR without alienating the patient. While most couldn’t access the information, they did interact with the patients face-to-face and even explained when they looked away to the computer.

Following more research, the school may incorporate class work on using EHRs.

*This blog post was originally published at ACP Internist*

Online Advertising 3.0: Harnessing Social Media Users For Precision Targeting Of Friends

Do you advertise on your social networks? You might not think that you do, but every time you tweet or update your status on Facebook or post a picture to Flickr, you’re advertising – perhaps not with commercial or self-promotional intent, but you are advertising something: an item of news, a humorous post or a moment from your vacation. I don’t believe that Advertising is bad; but there is bad advertising, the kind that pointlessly interrupts and annoys and leads to no action.

As the Web expands and evolves from a tangle of static web pages towards social and real time streams, Advertising will need to evolve into a suppler and friendlier animal. Google may have perfected Advertising on the traditional web platform, but the door is open to new players who can socialize advertising. It’s not an easy task: the bull’s eye of targeting customers is getting tinier everyday. Enter MyLikes, a start up which has taken on the task of helping advertisers reach their base. Read more »

*This blog post was originally published at Phil Baumann*

Free Electron Microscope Images Of Your Cat?

I’ve recently received an e-mail from ASPEX that offers Scienceroll.com readers the opportunity to scan a sample of their choice with an electron microscope (Desktop SEM) for free. Here are a few examples.

What you have to do:

  • Fill out the form and mail it along with the sample you want scanned to:

ASPEX Corporation

Free Sample Submissions
175 Sheffield Dr.
Delmont, PA 15626

  • Once ASPEX has completed the scan, the images and report will be posted on ASPEX’s website here.
  • It should take about 2 weeks for the results to post to the ASPEX website, and submitters will be notified via email. Samples scanned for free will not be returned.

*This blog post was originally published at ScienceRoll*

Latest Interviews

IDEA Labs: Medical Students Take The Lead In Healthcare Innovation

It’s no secret that doctors are disappointed with the way that the U.S. healthcare system is evolving. Most feel helpless about improving their work conditions or solving technical problems in patient care. Fortunately one young medical student was undeterred by the mountain of disappointment carried by his senior clinician mentors…

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How To Be A Successful Patient: Young Doctors Offer Some Advice

I am proud to be a part of the American Resident Project an initiative that promotes the writing of medical students residents and new physicians as they explore ideas for transforming American health care delivery. I recently had the opportunity to interview three of the writing fellows about how to…

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Latest Book Reviews

Book Review: Is Empathy Learned By Faking It Till It’s Real?

I m often asked to do book reviews on my blog and I rarely agree to them. This is because it takes me a long time to read a book and then if I don t enjoy it I figure the author would rather me remain silent than publish my…

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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

I am hesitant to review diet books because they are so often a tangled mess of fact and fiction. Teasing out their truth from falsehood is about as exhausting as delousing a long-haired elementary school student. However after being approached by the authors’ PR agency with the promise of a…

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