Health care is obsessed with new technology. Every week, a new article comes out promising disruption of medical care as we know it through personalized genetic therapy, app extensions that transform smartphones into ultrasounds or autonomous surgical robots. Yet, one of the best examples of health care technologies is also one of its oldest — instant messaging.
Though the original messaging platform AOL Instant Messenger was sadly discontinued at the end …
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The biggest innovation in health is here. And you’re probably using it.
It has become more and more evident with time that the health care delivery system here in the United States is riddled with issues. One with many disagreements arising from the fact that there is no clear and universally acceptable solution to our problems. In many ways, the system seems to step on its own feet — as the health care professionals working within it fight to make it work …
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How telemedicine will revolutionize primary care
The third year of medical school is when a student experiences the frustrations of medicine firsthand. Once, my team admitted a transfer patient from another hospital to treat a condition that was ravaging the patient’s lungs. But before we could act, we needed to rule out a dormant infection; if our patient was unknowingly infected with tuberculosis (TB), giving our first-line therapies could lead to a disseminated infection — even …
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Poor communication between EHRs is unacceptable. Let’s fix it.
Telemedicine has created an environment where patient convenience paired with reduced costs and increased efficiencies have made a better health care experience for both patients and physicians.
The technology might be able to improve rural health care systems by increasing access to patients who would otherwise have to travel long distances. Meaning those who would otherwise forego care due to difficulties with transportation, costs or time, could now receive care. For …
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Telemedicine can increase access to medical abortions
Recently, there was a fascinating article in the Wall Street Journal regarding robot-assisted surgery. It reported the results of two articles published in JAMA that demonstrated that robotic-assisted surgery cost more and took longer without achieving superior results to laparoscopic surgery on average.
With this, my LinkedIn account lit up. Here are several of the comments that came through:
“I’ve come to assume that robotic surgery is better …
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Is there a future for robot-assisted surgery?
Doctors, you need to improve the patient experience. Your intentions are there, but patients are starving for more.
Office visits offer definitive evidence that patients need to change. Tests results provide real data to make patients aware of health concerns. This is a clear and obvious starting point.
But after this information is gathered, the framework of change gets cloudy. Doctors go from offering clear and focused details like:
” You have high …
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The surprising way email can make you a better doctor
The computerized era has introduced all of us to a genre of errors that never existed during the archaic pen and paper era. The paper medical chart I used during most of my career never “crashed.” Now, when our electronic medical records (EMR) freezes, malfunctions, or simply goes on strike, our office is paralyzed. Although I appear to the patients as a breathing and willing medical practitioner, I might as …
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When EMRs crash: It’s time to push back
Online dating is all the rage these days. Statistics suggest that over a third of couples now meet online. For a lot of older readers of this blog, who met their husband or wife the traditional way and are baffled by this whole new world (and don’t get me wrong, there were probably many ways in which those days were better!), whether you understand the whole online or app dating …
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Look to online dating for the future of telemedicine
One of my readers, Natalie, wondered about my thoughts about the digital pill.
My initial reactions were similar to several of those who were interviewed for the article. The digital pill, which provides electronic information to confirm whether someone has ingested the medication, has great potential to become a tool of coercion. Aripiprazole (Abilify) is classified as an antipsychotic medication, which is often prescribed to people who have beliefs that machines …
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A psychiatrist’s perspective on the digital pill
Scourge:
- An instrument of punishment or criticism
- A cause of wide or great suffering
- Whip or lash — especially for torture
Introduction
They say you never forget your first time. I remember mine, vividly. If only I could erase the memory. I had high expectations and higher hopes, but what I got was disillusionment. I felt violated and humiliated. I’m talking about my first time using a system for electronic health records …
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The scourge of electronic health records
You may have heard of open-source software. When it comes to open-source, “free” has two meanings. First, you can download open-source programs at no cost. Second, “free” means freedom. The software is free in the sense that it belongs to you as much as it belongs to anyone else. If you download an open-source program, you can use it in any way you choose. You can use it forever as-is, …
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Want a simple and easy-to-use EMR? Well, you can have it for free.
Hospital email is supposed to be secure. This means that when you get an email with possible sensitive information, you receive a link to connect to a secure email product, requiring passwords, sign-ins and maybe even a bit of personal information.
Being what they are, hospitals tend to swap software products and we find some new “secure solution” that hits us, urging us to give email, make a password and possibly …
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My hospital hacked my computer
Brain-computer interface (BCI) has been a topic of interest for several decades, and many discoveries have been made. The role of BCI has been monumental and significantly impactful in the field of medicine. It has been gaining much progress in recent decades with inventions such as the encephalophone, in which a person can create music with their thoughts alone, or a patient can move a cursor icon on a monitor …
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Using brain-computer interface technology in medical education
In about 1990 we got our first computer. I say “we” because my husband and I shared a desktop which I used infrequently. I mostly used it for word processing, and the Internet was very young. At the turn of the millennium, my children were using computers, and they were limited to 1 hour of computer time a day, which was on a shared desktop. By 2001, I was communicating …
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Technology is not friendly to the elderly
When I became a caregiver to my dad, I quickly realized that I was not going to be able to keep all of his medical information in my head. My smartphone became my second brain. It helped me to track his symptoms, keep up with the dates for his appointments, document recommendations, and share this information with my sisters in a timely and coherent manner. Here, I share five ways …
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5 ways to use your smartphone to improve doctor visits
