Healthcare and Social Media: A Natural Fit

Health care organizations are using innovative forms of social media to inform and engage users. READ MORE >>

PDAs assist in learning process of undergraduate clinical students, but smartphones deemed more favorable

Access to current information for patient care through mobile technology offers assistance to medical students in the clinical setting, but the best ways to fully utilize this aid still remains unclear. To resolve this, a study was conducted in the UK that examined how mobile technology enables medical students to learn and what theoretical underpinning supports the learning.  Pubmed  (A Mixed Methods Study)

RWJF: Study Finds 'Exergames' Can Improve Cognitive Function in Older Adults

Increased Cognitive and Physical Exercise has the Potential to Protect Against Mental Decline that can Lead to Dementia
Seniors have a greater chance of preventing cognitive decline by participating in virtual reality-enhanced exercise known as ‘exergames’ compared to traditional exercise, according to a new study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.  The study is funded by Health Games Research, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Pioneer Portfolio that explores ways to advance the research, design and effectiveness of interactive games that are used to improve health.
Health Games Research grantee Cay Anderson-Hanley, PhD, at Union College in Schenectady, N.Y., and colleagues looked at the difference in impact on adults age 58 to 99 playing virtual racing games while pedaling a stationary bike versus traditional exercise alone. Researchers tested participants’ executive cognitive function such as their ability to multi-task, problem-solve, and working memory and attention. They discovered that ‘cybercycling’ two to three times a week for three months reduced the risk of clinical progression to mild cognitive impairment by 23 percent compared with traditional biking.
To find out more about health games: 

• Read the American Journal of Preventive Medicine study.
• Visit Health Games Research on the web to discover other games and gaming technologies that promote health.

HHS Initiative To Develop Best Practices for Mobile Device Use

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT and the HHS Office for Civil Rights are rolling out a project to develop best practices for mobile device use in health care settings. The initiative will build on existing HIPAA rules and will focus on privacy and security best practices. Results will be shared with industry stakeholders. Government Health IT et al.

Kaiser Permanente offers patients Android app for EMR access

Kaiser Permanente announced today that its nearly 9 million patients can now securely access their electronic medical records (EMRs) from a new, free mobile app on their Android devices or from other mobile devices via a mobile-optimized site.  mobilehealthcarenews

mHealth Initiative

HHS is pleased to launch several mHealth initiatives that have been guided by the HHS Text4Health Task Force.  More

Privacy & Security of Mobile/Remote Devices

Privacy and Security Mobile Device Good Practices Project Launched ONC’s Office of the Chief Privacy Officer (OCPO), in working with the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR), recently launched a Privacy & Security Mobile Device project.   The project goal is to develop an effective and practical way to bring awareness and understanding to those in the clinical sector to help them better secure and protect health information while using mobile devices (e.g., laptops, tablets, and smartphones). Building on the existing HHS HIPAA Security Rule - Remote Use Guidance, the project is designed to identify privacy and security good practices for mobile devices. Identified good practices and use cases will be communicated in plain, practical, and easy to understand language for health care providers, professionals, and other entities.   HHS will be looking for your input. Stay tuned for a public roundtable this Spring.   For information about other HHS mHealth activities, please visit the mHealth Initiative website: http://www.hhs.gov/open/initiatives/mhealth/index.html.

Flagstaff Medical Center to Send Patients Home with Smartphones

Care Beyond Walls and Wires uses wireless broadband tools, such as smart phones and 3G technology, to allow in-home daily monitoring of patients with CHF.  Read more

Nursing Schools Turning to New Technologies To Help Enhance Education

Some nursing schools are using digital textbooks, mobile phone applications and other technologies in their curricula. However, some educators have expressed concern that greater use of such tools could negatively affect nurses' interactions with patients. New York Times.

Health IT departments must get ready to support, secure tablets

Tablets have been a big hit in the consumer market ever since Apple's iPad was released. But they're also incredibly popular with doctors, who want to use them to access electronic medical records and information that can help with treating patients. Read more...

AHRQ Has A Spanish Language Column

Spanish-language column by Dr. Ponce-Gonzalez: ¿Le impede el dolor lanzar la pelota?

• La Dra. Ileana Ponce-González escribe columnas con consejos de salud, breves y fáciles de entender, para personas que hablan español. Visite esta página regularmente para leer las nuevas columnas.

Looking to a health e-future

Health portals, in the UK,  with connected devices are almost common these days; smart clothes and monitoring chips that become part of the body may be the future. Shanna Crispin reports. More from ehimobile

Remote Dermatology Consultations Can Boost Outcomes, Study Finds

Patients who have live, interactive telemedicine consultations with dermatologists could receive better treatment and have better outcomes, according to a study. About 69% of patients who had at least two such visits in a year saw clinical improvements. Modern Healthcare, FierceHealthIT.

DOD's Telehealth Center Launches Website for Kids in Military Families

The Department of Defense's National Center for Telehealth and Technology has launched a website to help children of deployed military personnel cope with stress. The site provides educational videos and forums to help children share their experiences. Modern Healthcare.  More

Lessons from Going Mobile with EHRs

SutterCare at Home is migrating to tablet computers, with about 20 percent of the 1,000 clinicians using the mobile EHR doing so on the new tablets.

    Read full story   |   Email this story   |   Go to HIMSS

New Health I.T. Tutorials from the AMA

The American Medical Association’s newest additions to its Web site are three video tutorials to aid physicians in adopting health information technology.

    Read full story   |   Email this story   |   Go to Group Practices Channel

Mass General Hospital deploys iPhones to nurses

Following a research and test phase of Voalte’s iPhone-based voice, alarm, and text communication offering, Massachusetts General Hospital has begun to deploy iPhones to nurses...More

Cedars-Sinai RNs to use smartphones for improved communication

January 9, 2012
Nurses.com

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, Calif., recently approved the use of smartphone technology for its nurses and clinicians at the point of care to improve response time and patient outcomes.

Using Voalte's communication solution, Cedars is standardizing the use of iPhones to increase the speed and quality of hospital voice, alarm and text messaging.

People, process, or technology -where are the improved patient outcomes?

Decision Critical Competency Tools for Healthcare decisioncritical.comPeople Process and Technology - Invest in people and people improving technologies to put an end to preventable healthcare injuries and deaths.

Cloud Solves Health Care Problems for the Elderly

As populations age worldwide, cloud-based health services manage the care of the elderly, whether at home or at assisted-care residential communities.  READ MORE >>

What Effects Do PCPs Think Giving Patients Electronic Access to Doctor Notes Would Have?

	Sixty-two percent of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center primary care physicians, 58% of Geisinger Health System PCPs and 36% of Harborview Medical Center PCPs participating in a program that gives patients electronic access to doctor notes believe it would help their practice deliver safer care, according to a new survey published in Annals of Internal Medicine.

VA Expands its Fleet of Telehealth-Equipped Mobile Health Centers

The Department of Veterans Affairs has expanded its fleet of mobile health centers from 50 to 70 vehicles that are equipped with telehealth technology to provide care to veterans in rural areas. The vehicles also allow for access to VA's VistA electronic health record system. NextGov.

Six Blind Men and the Elephant – Why is mHealth Inevitable?

An old Buddhist fable goes like this: Six Blind men tried to touch an elephant and describe what the elephant was like. One touched the body and said “It’s like a wall”. One touched the tusk and said “It feels like a spear”....More

Study: Nurses Using EHR Systems Report Better Patient Health Outcomes

A new study published in the Journal of Nursing Administration finds that U.S. nurses who used electronic health record systems consistently saw improvements in patient care and outcomes. United Press International, University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing release.More

EHRs Can Help Address Health Care Disparities, Study Finds

A new study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine concludes that blood pressure disparities between black and white patients could be reduced if more physicians adopted electronic health records. According to the study, the gap in blood pressure control rates between black and white patients was larger in primary care offices that used paper-based records and smaller in offices that used EHRs. Reuters.

Resident Physicians in Botswana using Android smart phones to practice in remote locations

www.imedicalapps.com mHealth Research Daily, with Tim Bredrup With the growth of mobile health in recent years, learning through the use of mobile devices (mobile learning [mLearning]) has gained recognition as a potential method for increasing healthcare providers’ access to medical information and resources in resource-limited settings. ...See More

More than 2 million patients are being treated with remote patient monitoring

Berg Insight concludes that around 2.2 million patients worldwide were using remote medical monitoring services as of the end of 2011. InformationWeek, Berg Insight and ReportLinker

UCSF Researchers Create Online Tools To Assess Older Patients' Prognosis

University of California-San Francisco researchers have developed online tools to evaluate the likelihood that an older patient will die within a certain time frame. The tools aim to help doctors assess whether a patient should consider hospice care or other options. New York Times.

Researchers describe smartphone platform to monitor elderly patients with chronic conditions

mHealth Research Daily, by Tim Bredup:  The need for continuous remote health monitoring is growing, especially amongst elderly patients that suffer from chronic diseases and heart conditions. In efforts to address this need, Informaticists in Portugal have proposed a system...More

Utah home health provider says app saves time, money

A small healthcare provider in Utah has saved $500,000 over the past year and reduced employee travel time 70 percent using a mobile EMR app, according to a report in ZDNet.

Guide to Reducing Unintended Consequences of Electronic Health Records

New AHRQ resource: “Guide to Reducing Unintended Consequences of Electronic Health Records” available at http://www.ucguide.org/.

Essential Nursing Resources 2012 Now Available Online

The Interagency Council on Information Resources in Nursing (ICIRN) has released the 26^th edition of Essential Nursing Resources (ENR), an expansive resource list intended to be used by nurses and librarians. Because the list of possible resources has grown so large the ENR has become too large and expensive to publish in print and so it appears only online at www.icirn.org  on the ICIRN website.

 

Nurses can use ENR as a tool to assist them with building a personal professional collection of resources to support and advance their area of practice. Librarians can utilize this tool as an evaluation point in determining collection development, and as a reference tool. ENR is neither a comprehensive presentation nor product endorsement, but represents the opinions of the contributors. This tool is meant to assist nurses and librarians to evaluate on their own what resources best apply to their particular situation. Only the most recent editions and website addresses have been included. The ENR was compiled to point to pathways for exploration, rather than be an end point, and to expand to other formats beyond traditional references.

 

New to this edition is a very handy key to let users know if:  $ =fee required; M=mobile; O=online; P=print for each resource listed. New and redesigned sections  in this edition include Blogs; Forums and Discussion list; Evidence-based Nursing; Management; Patient Safety/Quality Assurance; and Toxicology, Environmental, Occupational Health.

Healthcare professionals becoming increasingly distracted by mobile devices

imedicalapps

The smartphone era is presenting new challenges for doctors, who are increasingly becoming distracted by the devices, which may impact patient care.

Younger Workers Can't Be Trusted

The new generation gap centers on information security. READ MORE from Baseline Briefings >>

A Healthcare List - Forbes

Here’s a list of healthcare statistics from Forbes.  It is by no means complete or comprehensive and some of the data isn’t actually from 2011, but they all relate directly to any debate on healthcare reform (existing or proposed).  Some are well known and others less so.  These are among the more compelling... [Forbes]