Carson ePix MM-740 Digital Microscope is a compact 5x optical zoom microscope with a digital zoom function that can display its magnified image right on your computer screen, providing hours of fascinating educational entertainment for adults and children alike. It has a built-in internal illuminator, which ensures that the magnified images are clear and bright, and you can use the base attachment to view prepared slides or remove the base and place the microscope on any surface to reveal fine details.
The ePix MM-740 Digital Microscope is extremely easy to set up and use. Just install the included driver software, and attach the digital microscope to the USB port of your computer - you'll instantly see a live image appear on your computer screen. To capture and keep an image you are viewing, simply press the shutter button on the top of the microscope and the image will be captured and displayed in a separate window. Click on File and select Save from the drop-down menu and the image is yours to keep.
Features to use-
• Integrated digital camera captures still images and video clips
• View prepared specimen slides or place right onto ordinary objects to view
• 5x Optical zoom capability (26-130x effective magnification including digital zoom)
• Amazing educational and entertainment tool for both children and adults
• Battery-free operation - draws power directly through your computers USB Port
• Included software makes viewing images and video on your PC monitor easy
• 1.3MP image resolution -Sad!
• Compatible with Windows Systems (Windows 98SE, ME, 2000, XP) and requires an available USB Port.
Many other variants of this Digital Microscope are also available, with tweaked technical specifications to cover a wide range of requirements. And all this for less than 100 USD$$! Check a few deals here. http://www.dealtime.com/xPO-Carson-Optical-MM-740
Background: The quality of physician-patient communication is a critical factor influencing treatment outcomes and patient satisfaction with care. To date, there is little research to document the effect of telemedicine (TM) on physician-patient communication.
Objective: The objectives of this study are to measure and describe verbal and nonverbal communication during clinical TM consultations and to compare TM with in-person (IP) consultations in terms of the quality of physician-patient communication.
Methods: Veteran patients (n = 19) requiring pulmonary medicine consultations were enrolled into the study. The study group included 11 patients from the Iron Mountain Veterans Affairs Hospital (VAMC) remote site. Patients had individual TM consultations with a pulmonary physician at the Milwaukee VAMC hub site. A control group of 8 patients had IP consultations with a pulmonary physician at the Milwaukee VAMC. Video recordings of medical consultations were coded for patient-physician verbal and nonverbal communication patterns using the Roter Interaction Analysis System (RIAS).
Results: There were no differences in the length of TM consultations (22.2 minutes) and IP consultations (21.9 minutes). Analysis of visit dialogue indicated that the ratio of physician to patient talk was 1.45 for TM and 1.13 for IP consultations, indicating physician verbal dominance. Physicians were more likely to use orientation statements during IP consultations (P = .047). There were greater requests for repetition from patients during TM consultations (P = .034), indicating perceptual difficulties.
Conclusions: The study findings indicate differences between TM and IP consultations in terms of physician-patient communication style. Results suggest that, when comparing TM and IP consultations in terms of physician-patient communication, TM visits are more physician centered, with the physician controlling the dialogue and the patient taking a relatively passive role. Further research is needed to determine whether these differences are significant and whether they have relevance in terms of health outcomes and patient satisfaction with care.
Patients seem to be put at a certain communication disadvantage as they are immersed into a totally new environment and need the Doctor to guide them through the interview.As technology gets better, these virtual meetings might get more realistic and take away the awe associated with high technology AND Medicine working together in tandem.
Read the full article on the JMIR site. JMIR is the leading open access journal for eHealth and healthcare in the Internet age.
I have been following the Obama healthcare reform debate from a distance.The whole exercise seems too messy and too many people with too many agendas.
I have not come across many "Larger view" positions. Often, The debate turns to hair-splitting and sometimes turns rascist too.Most people online seem to misunderstand the whole point in this reform. Quite a few of the Cyber-citizens simply parrot against the old enemy,"Communism", while others do not even accept health as a fundamental human right!
Richard L. Reece is author, blogger, and health reform commentator. I read this piece on Medinnovationblog and found it neatly sums up the internal position of most of the concerned parties. And it takes a broader look at the whole issue, without debating too many nuances.Like someone said, "If it takes more than 3 sentences to explain your analysis, go rethink".
Obama, Doctors, Nurses, and Health Reform: "These days Obama and his committee, Organizing for America (OFA), are busily rallying doctors and nurses to bolster his case for a government overhaul of health care.
This week Obama and OFA assembled 150 doctors – all wearing white coats, many passed out by the White House if doctors didn’t bring their own – to stand by the President in the Rose Garden. OFA has bought ads featuring doctors and nurses on national cable TV channels. And just yesterday, OFA sent out emails to the nation’s nurses asking for displays of support and telling they could order pins proclaiming “Another nurse for reform.” The thought behind this frenzied recruiting of doctors and nurses is that the public admires and trusts doctors and nurses.
This strategy has pratfalls, beartraps, and pitfalls.
• In the first place, every doctor and nurse I know supports some form of reform, but not necessary the Obama brand featuring deeper federal intervention.
• Secondly, in the October 4 WSJ, three former AMA presidents came out against a “costly and inefficient government overall, “ instead saying a giant step towards reform would be enabling individuals to buy policies in any state, not just the state in which they live.
- Thirdly, Obama’s challenge in not persuading the public that doctors and nurses support his plan, but convincing the 270 million Americans already covered, and happy with their coverage and their doctors and nurses, to back his plan.
President Barack Obama's health-care overhaul faces an uncertain battle in the Senate after a narrow weekend victory in the House revealed the continuing divide among Democrats. The bill passed by a 220-215 margin late Saturday after fractious debate. Thirty-nine Democrats voted against the measure. One Republican, Rep. Anh "Joseph" Cao of Louisiana, unexpectedly voted in favor.
The measure spends $1.05 trillion over a decade to provide health insurance to an additional 36 million Americans and creates a new public insurance plan by 2013. It requires most Americans to carry insurance, creates a new exchange where they can shop for it and gives the lowest earners tax credits to help them pay for it.
