Archive for March, 2009
Uses of Twitter for Hospitals and Physicians
March 27, 2009
In a post by Michael Lara, MD, he proposes several potential uses of Twitter for physicians most of which are quick updates on CME, medical news, etc. He also goes into great detail about how it should not be used in medical practice because of potential privacy violations and the need to respond to medical emergencies in other ways.
One comment I have is that physicians who practice in multiple sites could use it as a communication tool with their offices similar to how pagers have been used until now. One way to manage such accounts is to protect updates and only allow a limited number of colleagues or office staff to view updates.
Ed Bennett’s catalog of hospital use of social media continues to grow. This will encourage hospitals to have a standard list of social media tools to manage their brand and their message: Facebook page and/or group, YouTube channel, Twitter account as a minimum.
Finally, I posted slides of a recent presentation on social media. Keep fine tuning this for two more presentations coming up in April.
Share this:Interoperability and PHRs
March 23, 2009
On John Halamka’s CIO blog, he does a good job of introducing the basics of the Healthcare IT alphabet soup and then some. Specifically, he addresses his opinions on:
- interoperability: “meaningful use will include: Problems lists/Diagnoses, Medications including e-prescribing, Allergies, Text-based summaries, Quality data sets, Population health data sets submitted to CDC, public health departments, and other government agencies.”
- PHRs and Smart Cards: “Smart cards have not received wide acceptance in any US industry, although they are very popular in other parts of the world….I believe it is much more likely that web-based Personal Health
Records, such as those provided by Google, Microsoft, and Dossia, will
be more popular than smart cards. These PHRs are secure, protect
confidentiality, and are automatically updated by labs, pharmacies,
hospitals, and clinician offices.”
Smart cards were recently endorsed byt the Committee on Operating Rules for Information Exchange.
I agree with Halamka on this – I think PHRs such as Google Health have a better chance of adoption in the US.
Why Web 2.0 Can Fail?
March 20, 2009
The Krafty Librarian brings up some great points about how enthusiasm for Web 2.0 can lead to its misuse and potential failure. She cites how using the term makes something new and exciting even if it is not the right tool for the situation. Another example is launching a tool just because it is Web 2.0 but without a specific purpose, such as, creating a wiki without a specific goal for the stakeholders or having few interested in adopting the tool. In IT we often refer to this as a solution looking for a problem rather than identifying a problem and the looking for the appropriate technology to solve it.
Share this:Web 2.0 Magazine
March 19, 2009
Came across a new online magazine and toolbox – the Web 2.0 Magazine. Lots of blog postings on a variety of topics but lacking dates. Its toolbox includes a small catalog of web 2.0 tools and hopefully will grow with tools and reviews. Industry events includes several related to cloud computing, such as Private Clouds.
Share this:Health 2.0 Video Presentations
March 18, 2009
If you like demos, you’ll want to tune into these Health 2.0 videos.
- Start with Matthew Holt talking about healthcare reform on h20tv.
- then jump over to Vimeo for videos of some breakout sessions, such as, Disease Management 2.0
- or try Wellness 2.0
- and Patient Social Networks
So many product demos in one place. Shows how Health 2.0 continues to be a growth area for innovation and entrepreneurship.
Share this:New Features for Google Health
March 16, 2009
Google Health has rolled out a new feature to allow users to share their profiles. This could include your provider, family members or others. It gives view only access to those users. There is also an option for printing a wallet size version of medications, allergies, conditions and treatments. This could be helpful in an emergency. Other options in an emergency are: have a family member login or share a login with and ER or have your login in your wallet although this is not preferred and not stated by Google as an option because of the obvious privacy risks. Although some have criticized this print feature, the fact of the matter is that most consumers have some printed records at home if not in their wallet. A smart card might be preferred but only if there is a national standard that can be read at all hospitals. No perfect answers here yet but a great improvement over paper records and a move closer to a national standard for PHRs or PHR platforms.
Also new on Google Health is the ability to graph medical test information. Wouldn’t it be great if portions of this could be exported to one’s profile on another site, such as, PatientsLikeMe? All in due time.
Tim O’Reilly’s View on Emerging Technology
March 10, 2009
From a blog on the UK Guardian, a report from the Emerging Tech conference includes Tim O’Reilly’s world view and how much of Web 2.0 is getting it wrong. He recommends:
- Work on something that matters to you more than money.
- Think about how to create more value than you capture
- Build a simple system – let it evolve.
- Be friendly to those who extend you.
Great advice and fits well with a healthcare approach to Web 2.0/Health 2.0.
Share this:Closer to the End of Print Media
March 3, 2009
In a post on RxInformatics, an article on the printing costs of the NY Times is cited. Basically, it costs more to print the NY Times than to give its subscribers each a $350 Kindle. Even with this price tag, a brand new device for delivering the news costs less than the paper and print for news. Personally, I would be glad to have an Amazon Kindle. This would be a mega-deal for both parties involved. Some might think that not all subscribers would accept the Kindle but I think adoption would be quick and likely outpace Amazon’s ability to produce and deliver.
What are the implications for health and medical publishing – offer an ebook to all medical students? Phase out medical publishing which is largely electronic already?
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