IBM introduces new mobile services for healthcare organizations

“IBM has announced new services to help healthcare organizations implement wireless mobility solutions.
IBM Enterprise Mobility Services is designed to give clinicians and nursing staff wireless communications and real-time access to patient records anywhere on the facility premises, according to IBM.”
Article
Bernie Monegain, Healthcare IT News, 12 September 2008

Doctors On The Go Drive Wireless Healthcare

“The increase in the level of healthcare being delivered by mobile medical practitioners outside of hospitals will become a key driver within the medical device market over the next decade. According to a report by Cambridge UK based analysts Wireless Healthcare, as healthcare providers are pushing more diagnostic and monitoring processes out to the edge of their care networks, medical device vendors are responding by adding more advanced communications technology to their products.”
Article
Wireless Healthcare, 23 July 2008

Google opens Knol website, a wiki with bylines

“Google Inc opened its website Knol to the public on Wednesday, allowing people to write about their areas of expertise under their bylines in a twist on encyclopedia Wikipedia, which allows anonymity.
“We are deeply convinced that authorship — knowing who wrote what — helps readers trust the content,” said Cedric DuPont, product manager for Knol.”
Article
Reuters, 23 July 2008

Knol Website

Intel gets approval for telecare device

“Intel has received market clearance from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for a new personal telehealth system, called Intel Health Guide.
The new telecare device, which has been tested in the US and UK, is described as a care management tool for healthcare professionals who manage patients with chronic conditions.
Intel says the device serves as a new category of ‘personal health system’ that can be connected to a range of wired and wireless patient monitoring devices, sending personal data to a secure server.”
Article
e-Health Insider, 14 July 2008

Telemedicine and eHealth, TOC, June 2008

Mobile Health Clinics and Telemedicine
“Think of mobile health clinic and what comes to mind? Depending on where you live, it might mean Tommy the Tooth van dispensing free brushes and toothpaste to the community. Maybe a loved one received a mammogram in their small town or received diabetes education. The Lions Club may have sponsored a mobile vision clinic where senior citizens were screened for glaucoma. Perhaps migrant farm workers lined up for
hours to get free medical care while working in the fields. Whether you live in the city or the country, chances are some type of mobile health clinic has visited your community sporting colorful graphics on the outside and various medical/dental services on the inside.”
Article
Kevin D. Blanchet,Telemedicine and e-Health. June 2008, 14(5): 407-412.

Acceptance of Telemonitoring to Enhance Medication Compliance in Patients with Chronic Heart Failure
Sixty-two congestive heart failure patients participated in a controlled, longitudinal study at two ambulatory medical centers in Hamburg, Germany. Two groups, a control (no telemedicine intervention) and the study group (telemedicine) were evaluated for medication intake. A medication box, networked to the patient’s electronic health record, was used for the telemedicine group. The main objective was to evaluate noncompliance of medication intake. The research showed that the system was effective. However, nearly 50% felt it was not necessary to continue the reporting after the study.
Article
Silke Schmidt, Sarah Sheikzadeh, Britta Beil, Monica Patten, Jürgen Stettin, Telemedicine and e-Health. June 2008, 14(5): 426-433.

Clinical Management and Patient Outcomes Among Children and Adolescents Receiving Telemedicine Consultations for Obesity
A retrospective review of patient medical records was conducted of children and adolescents who received pediatric weight management consultations using telemedicine. Ninety-nine patient files were reviewed. Analysis indicated that weight management using telemedicine can result in modification in patient care plans and outcomes.
Article
Ulfat Shaikh, Stacey L. Cole, James P. Marcin, Thomas S. Nesbitt, Telemedicine and e-Health. June 2008, 14(5): 434-440.

Optometric Referrals to Retina Specialists: Evaluation and Triage via Teleophthalmology
A teleophthalmology program linked Canadian optometrists to retina specialists for 171 patients and 190 consultations. In this carefully described study, 21/25 patients who required treatment condensed their visit to the specialist to a single day by having diagnostics done by telemedicine. Office visits to the specialist were reduced by 48%.
Article
Chris Hanson, Matthew T.S. Tennant, Chris J. Rudnisky, Telemedicine and e-Health. June 2008, 14(5): 441-445.

The Value of Provider-to-Provider Telehealth
The Center for Information Technology examined the value of providers with the patient and a distance site using three models of telehealth: store-and-forward, real-time video, and hybrid systems. A detailed literature review was conducted to elucidate where value had been reported. The data was evaluated by a computer simulation, which calculated the national value of provider-to-provider telehealth. Overall, the potential benefits of telehealth far outweigh the implementation costs, especially in emergency departments.
Article
Eric Pan, Caitlin Cusack, Julie Hook, Adam Vincent, David C. Kaelber, David W. Bates, Blackford Middleton, Telemedicine and e-Health. June 2008, 14(5): 446-453.

A Wireless Medical Information Query System Based on Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD)
Wireless data management and data access for telemedicine extend far beyond the realities of short text messaging limits. This report offers a query system based on Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) that can work at 100 bit/sec with the advantage to limited system consumption, terminal support, and expense.
Article
Zhelong Wang, Hong Gu, Dewei Zhao, Weiming Wang, Telemedicine and e-Health. June 2008, 14(5): 454-460.

Acceptability of Telepsychiatry in American Indians
The acceptability of conducting psychiatric assessments with rural American Indian veterans by real-time videoconferencing versus in person visits was evaluated. Fifty-three North Plains American Indian veterans from the Vietnam Era participated in this study. A videoconferencing link between the University of Colorado at Denver Health Science Center and the rural community was established. Participants were administered the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R (SCID) for psychiatric assessments using this videoconferencing link. This assessment tool was administered face-to-face by telehealth in different ways and by different interviewers. Telepsychiatry was well received and was comparable to in-person interactions.
Article
Jay H. Shore, Elizabeth Brooks, Daniel Savin, Heather Orton, Jim Grigsby, Spero M. Manson, Telemedicine and e-Health. June 2008, 14(5): 461-466.

An Experience of Health Technology Assessment in New Models of Care for Subjects with Parkinson’s Disease by Means of a New Wearable Device
This report characterizes a system combining gastrocnemius expansion measurement unit (GEMU), a step-counting device, with a telemedicine application for patients with Parkinsonism. GEMU by telemedicine correlated strongly with motion decrement in a robust and reliable system, which enjoyed high user acceptance.
Article
Daniele Giansanti, Giovanni Maccioni, Sandra Morelli, Telemedicine and e-Health. June 2008, 14(5): 467-472.

Development of a Multidisciplinary Osteoporosis Telehealth Program
This report from Toronto details a comprehensive women’s bone health program with referrals from 20 family doctors. The patients engaged in an average 2-hour consultation with very positive perceptions. Increased access to care was the principle outcome.
Article
Leigh Dickson, Cathy Cameron, Gillian Hawker, Azeena Ratansi, Ina Radziunas, Vinita Bansod, Susan Jaglal, Telemedicine and e-Health. June 2008, 14(5): 473-478.

Uncompressed Video Image Transmission of Laparoscopic or Endoscopic Surgery for Telemedicine
A robust, high-speed telecommunications link was established between Shanghai, China and Fukuoka, Japan for videoconferencing. This system was utilized to support real-time interactions during laparoscopic and endoscopic surgical procedures. Images, transmitted via a digital video transfer system (DVTS), were evaluated by participating physicians who completed a mini-questionnaire. A number of hospitals across the region participated, including Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Thirty-eight physicians completed the questionnaire. The majority (73.8%) indicated the images were very good. This tool has been viewed as an efficient and useful tool for the medical community in this region.
Article
Ke-Jian Huang, Zheng-Jun Qiu, Chun-Yu Fu, Shuji Shimizu, Koji Okamura, Telemedicine and e-Health. June 2008, 14(5): 479-485.

Using e-Health to Enable Culturally Appropriate Mental Healthcare in Rural Areas,br /> Relevant research issues in providing culturally appropriate e-mental health care were reviewed with intent to determine where research efforts could be expanded or prioritized. A workshop was held in California to address the provision of mental health care in rural areas due to a variety of barriers, including language, culture, and poverty. A set of recommendations for expanding and prioritizing research efforts was developed in both science and policy.
Article
Peter Yellowlees, Shayna Marks, Don Hilty, Jay H. Shore, Telemedicine and e-Health. June 2008, 14(5): 486-492.

German communications firm brings Bluetooth to Continua

“Stollmann Entwicklungs, a German supplier of Bluetooth SIG’s Health Device Profile for medical devices, has made the mobile technology available to members of the Continua Health Alliance.”
Article
Chip Means, Healthcare IT News EU, 13 June 2008

Health Care Embraces Mobility

“Enterprise mobility has emerged as a top strategic initiative among leading health care organizations. The ability of a health care organization to connect the right information with the right caregiver regardless of location or circumstance, enterprise mobility has the potential to increase patient safety and caregiver efficiency. To benchmark the current state of adoption, Motorola’s Enterprise Mobility business conducted independent research among a representative sample of various decision-makers, the chief purchasers of mobility solutions and mobile workers within the health care industry.”
Article
Jeff Schou, HHNMostWired, 4 June 2008

Remote care to drive healthcare wireless market, not hospitals

“While hospitals in the United States and Europe are increasingly using wireless technology to automate patient care, it is technology supporting remote care that will drive the market for wireless-based medical devices and applications, says a new report.”
Article
Richard Pizzi, Healthcare IT News, 16 May 2008

Wireless to take healthcare out of hospitals

“Hospitals in the US and Europe are increasingly using wireless technology to automate patient care and back office processes. However, according to a report published by Cambridge UK based analysts, Wireless Healthcare, it is technology that supports remote care that will drive the market for wireless based medical devices and applications.”
Article
News-Medical.net, 14 May 2008

Mayo to Test 802.11n Technology

“Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic plans to test wireless network technologies using the yet to be approved 802.11n standard. The delivery system will evaluate the technology as part of an enterprisewide deployment of network technology from Cisco Systems Inc., San Jose, Calif.”
Article
Health Data Management, 12 May 2008

Beth Israel Deaconess begins EHR/PM roll-out

“Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is collaborating with CDW Healthcare to deploy technology that will enable affiliated physician practices to access the hospital’s electronic health record and practice management software. The implementation, which includes a range of standardized hardware products, wireless technology and network solutions, will provide more than 300 physicians in 175 offices with the infrastructure to support pay-for-performance data capture and valuable decision-support tools.”
Article
Molly Merrill, Healthcare IT News, 12 May 2008

Equipping a Mobile Nurse

“The advent of wireless technology has made it possible for mobile health care professionals to access patient records, test results and other critical information from the field. While much of this focus is centered on computing from within the traditional hospital campus, a growing number of clinicians are traveling to patients’ homes, which requires remote connectivity to improve communication and to keep patient records up to date.”
Article
Andy Willett, HHNMostWired, 23 April 2008

Ambulances boast new ‘Gateway’ to improved patient information

“Nova Scotia’s ambulance provider, Emergency Health Service (EHS), has implemented a new technology in its efforts to continually improve patient care, installing In Motion Technology’s onboard Mobile Gateways in its ambulances.
“The In Motion Gateway is a small computer that allows wireless secure information to flow in and out of the ambulance,” says Susan Hazelwood, senior project manager on one of the application projects utilizing this in-vehicle technology. “The computer directs the data to the proper location – the paramedic’s “ruggedized” tablet and the centralized server.”
Article
The Burnside News 8 April 2008

Patients With Implantable Medical Devices May Be Exposed To Security, Privacy Risks

“Some medical devices such as implantable cardiac defibrillators and pacemakers are now equipped with wireless technology, allowing for remote device checks and freeing patients from repeated doctor visits. But this convenience may come with unanticipated risks. A team of researchers from three leading universities has demonstrated that patients’ private medical information could be extracted and their devices reprogrammed without the patients’ authorization or knowledge.”
Article
Medical News Today, 13 March 2008

New Ohio Hospital Maximizes Wireless Processes

“A lot of hospitals refer to themselves are “high tech,” but at OhioHealth Inc.’s Dublin Methodist Hospital, they really mean it. A tour of the new facility, which opened Jan. 8, reveals enough state-of-the-art medical equipment to make “Star Trek’s” Dr. McCoy envious.”
Article
Don Vaughan, Nurse.com, 10 March 2008

Doctors going wireless to write prescriptions

“For Dr. Edward Sobel, a Wilmington family practice doctor, a laptop computer is as essential to practicing medicine as his stethoscope.
That’s because Sobel’s five-physician medical practice, Family Practice Associates, recently installed a computerized health record system to electronically store patients’ data.”
Article
Gary Haber, Delaware Online, 9 March 2008

Sensor necklace as reminder for taking pills

“Now you need not have to worry about forgetting to take your pills, as researchers have designed a sensor necklace that ensures you don’t miss your doses.”
Article
New Kerala, 6 March 2008

All of the Hospital, None of the Paper

“By now, we were all supposed to be working in the paperless office. One glance at the Health Blog’s desk shows it ain’t so.
But the push is nonetheless on for the paperless hospital. And Ohio Health, a 16-hospital system based in Columbus, says it will hit the mark — just about — when it opens a new hospital in Dublin, Ohio, on Jan. 8.”
Article
Theo Francis, WSJ Health Blog, 28 December 2007

Nurse Survey: Mobile Tech Unreliable

“Sixty-four percent of nurses believe their organization’s wireless infrastructure isn’t reliable enough to support point-of-care computing, according to a recent survey. Further, the nurses sometimes have to log in and out of their wireless clinical systems up to 80 times a day because of frequent dropped connections as a result of dead zones or poor access point transitions, according to the survey.”
Article
Health Data Management, 17 December 2007

SMART An Integrated Wireless System for Monitoring Unattended Patients

“Monitoring vital signs and locations of certain classes of ambulatory patients can be useful in overcrowded emergency departments and at disaster scenes, both on-site and during transportation. To be useful, such monitoring needs to be portable and low cost, and have minimal adverse impact on emergency personnel, e.g., by not raising an excessive number of alarms. The SMART (Scalable Medical Alert Response Technology) system integrates wireless patient monitoring (ECG, SpO₂), geo-positioning, signal processing, targeted alerting, and a wireless interface for caregivers. A prototype implementation of SMART was piloted in the waiting area of an emergency department and evaluated with 145 post-triage patients. System deployment aspects were also evaluated during a small-scale disaster-drill exercise.”
Abstract
Dorothy W. Curtis, Esteban J. Pino, Jacob M. Bailey, Eugene I. Shih, Jason Waterman, Staal A. Vinterbo, Thomas O. Stair, John V. Guttag, Robert A. Greenes, and Lucila Ohno-Machado, J Am Med Inform Assoc. 2008;15:44-53. DOI 10.1197/jamia.M2016

Hospitals help nurses get more from IT

“According to results of a recent American Academy of Nursing survey, healthcare IT has a long way to go before it fully serves nurses in their environment. Yet some hospitals have already begun trying new ways to make healthcare IT more user-friendly to nurses, increasing the time they can spend with patients.”
Article
Diana Manos, Healthcare IT News, 4 December 2007

Health Care Unplugged: The Evolving Role of Wireless Technology

“Wireless technology enables clinicians to monitor patients remotely and give them timely health information, reminders, and support—potentially extending the reach of health care by making it available anywhere, anytime.
This report is based on interviews with more than two dozen researchers, clinicians, and application developers, along with a review of a broad range of published papers and articles, Web resources, and other materials. It includes an overview of who is using wireless technology and how it is evolving, as well as the wide variety of wireless health care applications that are already available or under development.
The impact these advances could have on providers, patients, and payers is also explored, as are the difficult issues that must still be resolved. The author concludes that the health care industry’s appetite for wireless applications will likely depend more on systemic changes in the way medical services are delivered and reimbursed than the capabilities of the technology itself.”
Report
Richard Adler, California Healthcare Foundation, November 2007

Providers team-up on wireless-skin patch for reducing medical errors

“A wireless technology provider and healthcare products manufacturer are teaming up to create a wireless skin patch that aims at reducing medical errors.”
Article
Molly Merrill, Healthcare IT News, 26 November 2007

Taking patient information wireless

“Picture this common occurrence: A motor vehicle crashes somewhere in Canada, and police and paramedics arrive on the scene about the same time.
Police can punch in the vehicle licence number or the names of passengers and instantly get a wealth of information: address, next-of-kin, criminal record.
The paramedics, for their part, operate blind. Unless the injured are wearing MedicAlert bracelets, nothing is known of their medical history, not even basics like blood type.”
Article
Andre Picard, Globe and Mail, 15 November 2007

HIStalk Interviews Tanya Townsend, Director of IT at Saint Clare’s Hospital

“Every CIO’s dream is to start fresh with a new hospital in a new market with all-new employees, choosing technologies from scratch and building the necessary infrastructure right into the structure. Tanya Townsend had that opportunity. The level of automation in most small hospitals is modest, but Saint Clare’s Hospital in the Village of Weston, Wisconsin, is a 107-bed digital hospital, thanks to some cooperation with Marshfield Clinic and parent organization Ministry Health Care.”
Article
HISTalk, 14 November 2007

A pervasive health monitoring service system based on ubiquitous network technology

Objectives: The phenomenon of aging society has derived problems such as shortage of medical resources and reduction of quality in healthcare services.
Method: This paper presents a system infrastructure for pervasive and long-term healthcare applications, i.e. a ubiquitous network composed of wireless local area network (WLAN) and cable television (CATV) network serving as a platform for monitoring physiological signals. Users can record vital signs including heart rate, blood pressure, and body temperature anytime either at home or at frequently visited public places in order to create a personal health file.
Discussion/conclusion: We proposed and implemented a long-term healthcare system integrating WLAN and CATV networks in the form of a ubiquitous network providing a service platform for physiological monitoring. This system can classify the health levels of the resident according to the variation tendency of his or her physiological signal for important reference of health management.
Abstract
Chung-Chih Lin, Ren-Guey Lee and Chun-Chieh Hsiao, International Journal of Medical Informatics, In Press, Corrected Proof, Available online 1 November 2007

Colorado Hospital Bets Big on Wireless Future

“With a new campus opening its doors this summer, Platte Valley Medical Center in Brighton, Colo. is arguably as wireless-enabled as a health care facility can get.”
Article
Adam Stone, Digital HealthCare & Productivity, 2 October 2007

Nurses go wireless in Essen

“The nursing service at Essen University Hospital is to begin an ambitious wireless health IT project later in September that will result in it becoming one of the first fully wireless hospitals in Germany.”
Article
e-Health Europe, 5 September 2007

Safe Pill-Dispensing

Massimiliano Testa and John Pollard
Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University College London

Abstract.

Each patient is supplied with a smart-card containing a Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) chip storing a unique identification code. The patient places the Smart-card on a pill-dispenser unit containing an RFID reader. The RFID chip is read and the code sent to a Base-station via a wireless Bluetooth link. A database containing both patient details and treatment information is queried at the Base-station using the RFID as the search key. The patient’s treatment data (i.e., drug names, quantities, time, etc) are retrieved and sent back to the pill-dispenser unit via Bluetooth. Appropriate quantities of the required medications are automatically dispensed, unless the patient has already taken his/her daily dose. Safe, confidential communication and operation is ensured.

A Deployable Framework for Mobile Telemedicine Applications

Ikhu-Omoregbe N.A., Ayo C. K., and Ehikioya S. A.
Department of Computer and Information Sciences, Covenant University, Ota, Nigeria

Abstract

In recent years, the shortage of medical specialists and access to medical information has necessitated a growing interest for cost effective and efficient telemedicine tools for healthcare delivery. Mobile telemedicine applications are aimed at meeting the mobility requirements of patients and doctors by integrating wireless communications for different health care services and education.

Although, telemedicine holds great promises in enhancing health care delivery in rural area and developing countries, only a few applications exist because of poor frameworks for their deployments. This paper, aims at providing a deployable framework for Mobile Telemedicine Applications for Tropical Diseases (MTATD).

MTATD presented here, provides access to a telemedicine unit via hand held devices over a PSTN/GSM and the Internet for a collaborative health care delivery and education between patients and care providers.