Tech Medicine

An Open Letter from America's Physicians

2008-05-10T11:10:00.000-07:00

Sermo is an online network for physicians — currently, over 60,000 of them. (I've written about the Sermo community previously, and I've written about meeting Sermo's CEO, Dr. Daniel Palestrant.) One of the advantage of social networks like Sermo is that it allows groups to quickly formulate and vote on ideas. The physicians of Sermo — over a thousand of them — have used the network to craft "An...

Monthly Introduction to Tech Medicine

2008-04-30T18:16:00.000-07:00

Image from WikipediaWhat's this blog all about? My goal in Tech Medicine will be to explore the intersection of medicine, new technologies, and the Internet. This is a purposefully broad topic. Several times weekly I will post focused reviews of issues interesting to health professionals and nonprofessionals alike. Posts may include examinations of medical devices, pharmaceuticals, scientific...

2nd Annual DiabetesMine™ Design Challenge

2008-04-30T18:06:00.000-07:00

Image via WikipediaThe folks over at MedGadget (full disclosure: I'm a proud editor there) and Amy Tenderich of DiabetesMine™ are sponsoring the 2nd Annual DiabetesMine™ Design Challenge, a "a competition designed to foster innovation in diabetes design and encourage creative new tools that will improve life with diabetes." Here's the official announcement: 2nd Annual DiabetesMine™ Design...

Thanks to Doc Gurley for Grand Rounds

2008-04-30T04:45:00.001-07:00

Thanks to Doc Gurley for Grand Rounds and for including my post on Three Visions of the Future of Healthcare.

Links of Interest

2008-04-29T18:14:00.000-07:00

Image via WikipediaThe following posts on the web recently caught my attention. Clinical Cases and Images -- which contains a wealth of resources for technology in medicine -- posted 5 tips to stay up to date with the medical literature (click the link for a detailed discussion): 1. RSS Feeds for Journals. 2. Podcasts. 3. Persistent Searches. 4. Text-to-speech (TTS). 5. Blogs.Struggling to...

Three Visions of the Future of Healthcare

2008-04-26T19:44:00.000-07:00

Below are juxtaposed three visions of the future of healthcare. The first is from Microsoft, a conceptual video which echoes 2001. But the computers don't remind me of HAL. They remind me of, um, the iPhone. The video follows a pre-diabetic (presumably type 2) patient as she's out on her run, with all her physiologic data being automatically uploaded to her personal health record, which is then...

Why Doctors Don't Email Patients

2008-04-23T20:27:00.000-07:00

Image via WikipediaIt's no secret that I'm a strong advocate of patient physician communication by email. (See, for example, "Does Providing Email to Patients Benefit Patient-Physician Communication," "Someone Please Create Free, HIPAA-Compliant Patient-Physician Email," and the three part "Thoughts on Patient Physician Email.") The Associated Press published a story recently with the following...

Healthline's Been Nominated for a Webby!

2008-04-21T13:55:00.000-07:00

Image via WikipediaHealthline.com has been nominated for a Webby award in the "health" category! To vote for Healthline for the "People's Voice Award," simply Log on to http://peoplesvoice.webbyawards.com/.Register to vote (or log in if you are a returnee).After registration, click on the Web site icon and find the Living section, under which the Health category falls.Vote for Healthline.Thanks!

The iStan Medical Mannequin: it Sweats, Bleeds, and Breathes.

2008-04-19T06:34:00.000-07:00

There's an appeal to learning medicine on virtual patient simulators, like Simantha, a simulator for cardiologists that I wrote about last week. You can practice dealing with emergencies and challenging patient situations that you might rarely encounter in practice. You can learn from your mistakes. You can be tested in a standardized fashion with actual clinical situations. And you can learn...

The Prostate Cancer InfoLink

2008-04-16T19:23:00.000-07:00

Image via WikipediaThis is a guest blog post by Dr. Arnon Krongrad, a urologist and founder and director of the Krongrad Institute for Minimally Invasive Prostate Surgery. It illustrates some of the ways physicians are utilizing the internet and online social networks such as Ning.com to educate patients about their practices. -- “I hope you are not one of those used car salesmen turned robotic...

Thanks to Dr. Wes for Grand Rounds!

2008-04-13T12:01:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Dr. Wes for Grand Rounds this week and for including my post on a bioartificial kidney. Related articlesSurgeons transplant 6 kidneys at once [via Zemanta]

I'm Writing a Book with the American College of Physicians

2008-04-04T12:28:00.000-07:00

The ink on the contract is drying, so I'm finally able to make this announcement: I'm writing a book with the American College of Physicians. This means that I'm humbly joining the ranks of other medical bloggers with book deals based on their blogs. (I'm aware of several, but I'd love to see a complete list.) Writing a book was never my intention. I started The Efficient MD because I was...

Thanks to GruntDoc for Grand Rounds

2008-04-03T04:32:00.000-07:00

Image from WikipediaGrand Rounds, this week's best posts of the medical blogosphere, is up at GruntDoc (and eveywhere else). Thanks for including my post on The Physician Success Strategies Conference.

Monthly Introduction to Tech Medicine

2008-03-31T18:25:00.000-07:00

Interventional Cardiologists Tested on Virtual Patient Simulators

2008-03-31T10:17:00.000-07:00

Image from WikipediaCardiologists and other medical specialists are required to complete training and education "modules" by the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) for renewal of their board certification. For the first time, the ABIM is allowing cardiologists to take one of these modules by performing cases on a life-sized mannequin, a virtual patient named "Simantha." This virtual...

The Physician Success Strategies Conference: What Can Doctors Learn From Consultants?

2008-03-29T11:59:00.000-07:00

Many doctors, in their daily practice, have the nagging suspicion that there must be a better way to do things. The blog focuses on strategies and ideas that doctors can use to stay organized, increase productivity, and take better care of patients. Many of my colleagues and I have experienced our desks disappearing under a pile of papers and charts, suddenly realizing that we’re an hour and a...

Bioartificial Kidney Reduces Risk of Death from Acute Kidney Failure

2008-03-25T18:10:00.001-07:00

Most patients with acute kidney failure receive hemodialysis -- a cleansing of the blood using a dialysis machine, a "man-made" kidney. However, acute kidney failure is associated with a high mortality rate, and researchers have been interested in whether the outcomes from kidney failure could be improved through the use of a "bioartificial kidney," which have the potential to more closely...

iPhone Medicine Watch: Epocrates on the iPhone

2008-03-23T11:09:00.000-07:00

"I'd like to get an iPhone, but..." In the hospital, when I use my iPhone, I hear this all the time. What are the two biggest reasons doctors give for not switching to the iPhone? 1) They don't want to change their carrier to AT&T and 2) The iPhone can't run Epocrates or other third party software. Most physicians have used Epocrates, which is a popular drug reference database accessible...

Thanks to Polite Dissent for Grand Rounds

2008-03-19T04:47:00.000-07:00

Thanks to polite dissent for including my post on Healthline's new drug search tool for Grand Rounds.

Jay Parkinson, Myca, and Hello Hello Health Watch

2008-03-18T19:59:00.001-07:00

I previously wrote about Dr. Jay Parkinson on Tech Medicine. He runs an innovative practice, primarily for the uninsured, involving housecalls and the integral use of email and instant messaging to facilitate communication with patients. In association with Myca, Dr. Parkinson is launching a project called hello health:Yesterday, we at Myca, announced hello health at the Health 2.0 conference in...

Google Health Watch

2008-03-17T19:53:00.000-07:00

For those of you following Google's entrance into the business of Electronic Health Records (EHRs), here's a roundup of recent developments and insights. Marissa Mayer, the VP at Google in charge of the project, discussed Google Health on the Official Google Blog and provided screenshots:Google Health aims to solve an urgent need that dovetails with our overall mission of organizing patient...

Monthly Introduction to Tech Medicine

2008-02-29T19:44:00.000-08:00

What's this blog all about? My goal in Tech Medicine will be to explore the intersection of medicine, new technologies, and the Internet. This is a purposefully broad topic. Several times weekly I will post focused reviews of issues interesting to health professionals and nonprofessionals alike. Posts may include examinations of medical devices, pharmaceuticals, scientific advances, internet...

My Interview With Google Discussing Google Book Search

2008-02-28T21:11:00.000-08:00

Google interviewed me a few weeks ago about Google Book Search -- why it's innovative and how doctors can use it. The 2 minute video is posted on The Efficient MD.

Followups and Links of Interest

2008-02-25T20:05:00.000-08:00

A few things that caught my eye these last few weeks: OR-Live offers live and archived webcasts of more than 600 surgical procedures. From the NEJM:This spring the U.S. Supreme Court in Baze v. Rees1 will rule on the constitutionality of the three-drug regimen currently used for lethal injection in most state executions. The Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits punishment that is...

Tech Medicine

An Open Letter from America's Physicians

Monthly Introduction to Tech Medicine

2nd Annual DiabetesMine™ Design Challenge

Thanks to Doc Gurley for Grand Rounds

Links of Interest

Three Visions of the Future of Healthcare

Why Doctors Don't Email Patients

Healthline's Been Nominated for a Webby!

The iStan Medical Mannequin: it Sweats, Bleeds, and Breathes.

The Prostate Cancer InfoLink

Thanks to Dr. Wes for Grand Rounds!

I'm Writing a Book with the American College of Physicians

Thanks to GruntDoc for Grand Rounds

Monthly Introduction to Tech Medicine

Interventional Cardiologists Tested on Virtual Patient Simulators

The Physician Success Strategies Conference: What Can Doctors Learn From Consultants?

Bioartificial Kidney Reduces Risk of Death from Acute Kidney Failure

iPhone Medicine Watch: Epocrates on the iPhone

Thanks to Polite Dissent for Grand Rounds

Jay Parkinson, Myca, and Hello Hello Health Watch

Google Health Watch

Monthly Introduction to Tech Medicine

My Interview With Google Discussing Google Book Search

More Tech Medicine Links

Followups and Links of Interest