Hand that iPad to your patients

MacNN had a rather silly article last week saying the Apple iPad was missing important features for healthcare providers. The thrust of the article was that EMR software was not yet available. Considering it will be two months before anyone even has an iPad in their hand it is amusing to complain about what software is not available.

One use I have not seen discussed is the use of the Apple iPad to collect data from patients. Imagine handing an iPad to a patient with an easy to use screen. Updating information can be done with a few clicks confirming the data you have, a screening questionnaire asking why they are in that day, and even preliminary self-assessments. This data could interface with the EMR and tell the provider the patient's complaints before even stepping into the exam room.

The iPad could also be used for patient teaching. Imagine handing your patient a library of topics, or a specific topic of your choosing. The information could even be followed up with a quiz testing their knowledge. Often in medicine patients' learning is never measured. With a graded quiz providers would have a better idea of what patients' learned, and what needs more education.

The iPad has a place in your healthcare practice

On first glance the Apple iPad seems like only a large iPod Touch, and in many ways it is. For healthcare providers happy with their iPhones and iPod Touches it may seem like an unnecessary gadget. There are, however, some very practical uses for an iPad in your practice.

The iPad as an e-reader really opens up a new world of resources for the healthcare provider. The full color screen and ability to zoom creates the first device physicians, nurses, dentists, and other providers may actually want to use to read the literature. Just like you can subscribe to podcasts today I hope to see medical articles made available through easy iTunes subscriptions. Reading articles on an iPad will save me from printing out a pdf. Articles I want to save will also always be available even if I don't have access to my filing cabinet.

The pocket-sized iPhone is great for reference texts like lab guides for fingertip access to clinical information. But iPhones aren't so great for reading longer form writing. Medical texts and journals on the iPad would be a great way to carry out reading during plane rides, lunch breaks, and boring staff meetings.

In my next article I will discuss a use for the iPad that may change the way you work with your patients.

A list of some of the best medical software for iPhone

One of the frustrations of the iTunes Store is the number of supposed "Medical" apps that are not designed for healthcare providers or students. The folks at SoftwareAdvice.com, a commercial site that is paid for through vendor links, offers a great page highlighting some of the best medical software out there for iPhone and iPod Touch. Out of the over 1500 medical apps they determined only about half were actually of use to professionals. I mostly agree with their list. Also be sure to check out the spreadsheet of the over 700 medical apps. It's a great tool for finding apps you never knew about.

Statcoder apps now available for iPhone

Some of the best apps for healthcare providers on the Palm were made by Statcoder. My favorite was STAT Growth which was great for calculating kids height/weight/BMI percentiles. After my migration to an iPhone it was the app I missed most as there were no other iPhone apps that duplicated that functionality into one app. I am happy to say that all of the STAT titles are now available on the iPhone/iPod Touch. They can be a little hard to find as the search for statcoder turned up empty. They are available under the business name of Austin Physician Productivity.

They have 13 free and paid applications for sale. Including apps for immunization, ICD-9 coding, evaluation and management coding, lab coding, and H1N1 info. Prices range from free to $20.

I found the STAT Growth to work well but its interface is a little crude in appearance. After entering the numbers it is not clear that you have to tap on the screen to get remove the number pad. One great feature is a color coded blue/pink title bar as you select boy or girl measurements. The plotting on the CDC growth charts is neat but too small to use in a meaningful way. The $7 price seems high for a one trick app but right now it is the only one that can do all the functions that its old Palm version could do. I still recommend this application for physicians and nurses who have to plot height, weight, and BMI percentiles for large numbers of children at a time.

Lexi-Comp offering 30-day trials

Lexi-Comp announced today that their databases can now be used for 30 days as a trial before purchase of their subscription. Lexi-Comp has a wide variety of medical titles for the iPhone or iPod Touch. Subscriptions are 1, 2, or 3 years. They offer suites for different specialities that can save money versus buying individual titles. This is a great addition of a feature that has long been available for other handheld computers. To purchase the titles you should first download the free front-end Lexi-Comp application on iTunes.

Medical School offers iPhone apps

The Medical College of Georgia is now offering a suite of iPhone applications for its students. They have a suite of six campus specific apps such as a faculty directory, a GPS-enabled map, and event calendar. They also have a suite of six medical applications such as a medical calculator, ICD-9 code guide, and medical abbreviation guide.

This is a great idea for students. Campus-specific apps support students in their campus life while the medical apps are a great clinical-learning aide.

Importance of iPhone in Healthcare recognized

Businessweek has published an article "Calling Dr. iPhon e" that relates how important the Apple iPhone has become for some physicians. While the article discusses the medical applications it also mentions how the iPhone can interface with medical records.

Handheld computers in medicine have mostly been used for references or calculators. The next step seems to be how to integrate electronic health records with a handheld device. The iPhone seems a good candidate for pioneering that area.