The Boon of Wireless Health

Like all other devices, medical and health devices are all going WireLess.A new cloud based wireless device for Health/Medical monitoring seems to be launched every week!

Eric Topol highlights several of the most important wireless devices in medicine's future - all helping to keep more of us out of hospital beds.

Eric J. Topol, M.D. is a noted American cardiologist, geneticist and innovator. In this talk, he shares his views on Top 10 targets for Wireless medicine.

Topol was selected as one of the 12 “Rock Stars of Science” by GQ and the Geoffrey Bean Foundation in 2009

Also see-

• Smartphones Are The New Stethoscope (gigaom.com)
• FDA Clearance of Wireless Proteus Wireless Monitoring Device Reported - Novartis and Medtronic Have $50 Million Invested in the "Raisin" (ducknetweb.blogspot.com)

Parceling the Operating Room

Very often, in developing countries, access to quality healthcare can be a big problem. 

No doctors, old instruments, unhygienic environments. The problems are aplenty. 

But there can be innovative solutions to them.

Dr. Seyi Oyesola points out that common, survivable ailments and injuries -- burns, trauma, heart attacks -- kill thousands of Africans each year because basic medical care can be so hard to get. 

To help bring surgical care to every region of the continent, Oyesola co-developed CompactOR, or the "Hospital in a Box": a portable medical system that contains anesthetic and surgical equipment. It consists of a pop-up, portable, solar-powered OR for off-grid medicine in Africa and elsewhere.It contains anaesthetic equipment, a defibrillator, a burns unit, plaster-making facilities, surgical equipment and a built-in operating table. It even comes with its own tent to create an ad hoc field hospital..The operating suite is light enough to be dropped into inaccessible zones by helicopter, and can be powered by solar panels.The system is powered by a truck battery, and is made to be readily recharged via solar panel. The basic kit, minus battery, costs about £14,000, or roughly US$25,000; additional modules provide support for an extensive selection of drugs and more specialized medical treatments (including orthopedic surgery).

Related article

* Need for skilled personnel in Healthcare services

Good Story Telling Skills Important to Being a Good Doctor.

I have enjoyed watching the tele-serials ER as well as Law and Order: SVU ,so i was excited to stumble onto this video on TedMed.

Neal Baer is a political science graduate, a pediatrician ,television writer and producer. He's written numerous episodes of ER and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. He explains how most of his stories are derived from actual patient circumstances. His story-writing and Film industry experience has given him a unique perspective on Physician skills.

Listening to him, i realized how true what he says is. Interviewing a patient well and then putting it down on paper logically is so very important. Also,television and movies can really be a good health information platform, especially in a movie crazy country like India!

Neal Baer demonstrates the connection between Hollywood and medicine in this enlightening and entertaining talk!

Also see-
An Interview with Neal Baer, MD, the Doctor Behind ER

Games for Health information in Cancer

Games can be a serious source of health information.Especially for the younger age group. Re-Mission is a game designed to engage young cancer patients through entertaining game play while impacting specific psychological and behavioral outcomes associated with successful cancer treatment.

The Re-Mission video game for teens and young adults with cancer was released by the nonprofit HopeLab on April 3, 2006. The game is a Microsoft Windows based third-person shooter based in the serious games genre. The game was conceived by Pam Omidyar and designed based on HopeLab research, direct input from young cancer patients and oncology doctors and nurses, and game developer Realtime Associates, among others.

The game addresses the importance of:
• Compliance with oral chemotherapy regimens and prescribed medications
• Prompt symptom reporting, even if the symptoms appear unrelated to cancer
• Proper nutrition to increase the body’s ability to fight cancer
• Anxiety, nausea and pain management through breathing and muscle relaxation exercise

Re-Mission takes the player on a journey through the body of young patients with different kinds of cancer. . Re-Mission is designed to be fun and challenging, while helping players stick to their prescribed treatments and giving them a sense of power and control over their disease.In Re-Mission, the player controls an RX5-E ("Roxxi") nanobot who is designed to be injected into the human body and fight particular types of cancer and related infections such as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and leukemia, at a cellular level. The player must also monitor patient health and report any symptoms back to Dr. West (the in-game doctor and project leader). Each of the 20 levels is designed to inform the patient on a variety of treatments, how they function, and the importance of maintaining strict adherence to those treatments. Various "weapons" are used, such as the Chemoblaster, Radiation Gun, and antibiotic rocket.

HopeLab makes Re-Mission available at no charge to young people with cancer and their families, as well as oncology healthcare workers and institutions around the world. Copies are also distributed at no charge to others, though donations are accepted

Also read- Study Shows Playing Videogames Can Change Behavior, Biology

Thinking out of the box - Portable OR

Dr. Seyi Oyesola points out that common, survivable ailments and injuries -- burns, trauma, heart attacks -- kill thousands of Africans each year because basic medical care can be so hard to get. Having spent his early medical career in Africa, he understands the difficulties faced in providing care in under-developed ares.

To help bring surgical care to every region of the continent, Oyesola co-developed CompactOR, or the "Hospital in a Box": a portable medical system that contains anesthetic and surgical equipment. It consists of a  pop-up, portable, solar-powered OR for off-grid medicine in Africa and elsewhere.It contains anaesthetic equipment, a defibrillator, a burns unit, plaster-making facilities, surgical equipment and a built-in operating table. It even comes with its own tent to create an ad hoc field hospital..The operating suite is light enough to be dropped into inaccessible zones by helicopter, and can be powered by solar panels.The system is powered by a truck battery, and is made to be readily recharged via solar panel. The basic kit, minus battery, costs about £14,000, or roughly US$25,000; additional modules provide support for an extensive selection of drugs and more specialized medical treatments (including orthopedic surgery).

Although the Hospital-in-a-Box may save lives, Oyesola reminds us that with meager pay and inadequate facilities, there is still little incentive for medical professionals to remain in Africa. Proper education and technical training could pave the way for more, and more capable, new physicians to learn and stay in Africa -- and start the healing of the continent.

Also read-

African Maternal Mortality Defies Global Trend

Infant mortality rates in Africa will increase by 30,000-50,000 - Girls will fare worse

Related article

• Need for skilled personnel in Healthcare services
  
   

Using Computer assisted health risk assessment tools

Describing a Computer-assisted Health-risk assessment tool-

In a computer-assisted health-risk assessment (HRA), patients complete a computer survey before seeing their clinician. The interactive program then prints an individualized risk report for the clinician and a recommendation sheet for the patient just before the medical consultation. The intention of such computer-assisted health-risk assessment is to facilitate face-to-face consultation with the provider and not to substitute for patient self-care

This is a small study to enhance understanding about computer-assisted health-risk assessments from physicians’ perspectives. Ten Physicians were interviewed on their experience with  Computer assisted health-risk assessment, after completion of a trial at a Canadian, urban, multi-doctor, hospital-affiliated family practice clinic.

The key benefits identified include-

• Tool to open dialogue

• Improved time efficiency, by asking questions on health risks prior to the
  consultation and triggering patients’ self-reflections on the risks

However, they were unconvinced about the suitability of such risk assessment for all visits to detect new risk information. In terms of feasibility,  physicians displayed general acceptance of the risk assessment tool but  considered it most feasible for periodic health exams and follow-up visits.

Participants perceived computer-assisted  health-risk assessment as a useful tool in family practice, particularly for identifying psychosocial issues. Physicians displayed a general acceptance of the computer tool and indicated its greater feasibility for periodic health exams and follow-up visits than all visits. Future physician training on psychosocial issues should address physicians’ concerns by emphasizing the varying forms of “clinical success” for the management of chronic psychosocial issues. Future research is needed to examine the best ways to implement this program in diverse clinical settings and patient populations.

Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00385034; http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00385034 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/5pV8AGRgt)

Read the study here.

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• Lowe's Launches First Mobile Health-Screening Tour Exclusively for Employees (eon.businesswire.com)

Using Computer assisted health risk assessment tools

There are a number of eHealth tools used at various institutions and a Computer assisted Health risk assessment is a good example of a simple tool offering a lot of benefits. In a computer-assisted health-risk assessment (HRA), patients complete a computer survey before seeing their clinician. The interactive program then prints an individualized risk report for the clinician and a recommendation sheet for the patient just before the medical consultation. The intention of such computer-assisted health-risk assessment is to facilitate face-to-face consultation with the provider and not to substitute for patient self-care

This is a small study to enhance understanding about computer-assisted health-risk assessments from physicians’ perspectives. Ten Physicians were interviewed on their experience with  Computer assisted health-risk assessment, after completion of a trial at a Canadian, urban, multi-doctor, hospital-affiliated family practice clinic.

The key benefits identified include-

• Tool to open dialogue

• Improved time efficiency, by asking questions on health risks prior to the consultation and triggering patients’ self-reflections on the risks

However, they were unconvinced about the suitability of such risk assessment for all visits to detect new risk information. In terms of feasibility, physicians displayed general acceptance of the risk assessment tool but considered it most feasible for periodic health exams and follow-up visits.

Participants perceived computer-assisted  health-risk assessment as a useful tool in family practice, particularly for identifying psychosocial issues. Physicians displayed a general  acceptance of the computer tool and indicated its greater feasibility for periodic health exams and follow-up visits than all visits. Future physician training on psychosocial issues should address physicians’ concerns by emphasizing the varying forms of “clinical success” for the management of chronic psychosocial issues. Future research is needed to examine the best ways to implement this program in diverse clinical settings and patient populations.

Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00385034; http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00385034 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/5pV8AGRgt)

Also read-

Use of Audio Computer-assisted Self-Interviews to Assess Tuberculosis-related Risk Behaviors

United States and France support WHO/Pharma reaction to swine Flu "epidemic"

After stringent criticism by many doctors, including Dr Wolfgang Wodarg, the World Health Organization has found support from expected quarters. Countries which head quarter the MNC pharmaceuticals have openly come out in support of the Pharma industry and the WHO.

Sample this-

"While some have questioned some of the actions taken by the international community, the outcomes speak for themselves. I believe we made the right decisions at the right times," said US Secretary for Health Kathleen Sebelius.

 

The French health minister Roselyne Bachelot said "I want to express, in France's name, our solidarity with the WHO, which has been taken to task in an unjust manner,". She told the assembly.that knowledge about the severity of the virus was "imperfect" in the beginning yet decisive action had to be taken. She also expressed concern about the perception of swine flu threat, especially for younger people, arguing that public thinking had been muddled and underestimated the risks. She  also warned that doubts about expert advice and the role of the pharmaceutical industry could undermine future alerts.

Below is a table quantifying the Case fatality rate of Swine Flu ( approx 0.03%), which is lower than case fatality in seasonal flu ( approx .08%), but which has been handled with much more alacrity and financial resources.

20th century flu pandemics
Pandemic	Year	Influenza virus type	People infected (approximate)	Estimated deaths worldwide	Case fatality rate
Spanish flu	1918–1919	A/H1N1	33% (500 million)	20–100 million	>2.5%
Asian flu	1956–1958	A/H2N2	?	2 million	<0.1%
Hong Kong flu	1968–1969	A/H3N2	?	1 million	<0.1%
Seasonal flu	Every year	mainly A/H3N2, A/H1N1, and B	5–15% (340 million – 1 billion)	250,000–500,000 per year	<0.1%
Swine flu	2009	Pandemic H1N1/09	about 622,482 (lab-confirmed)	18,036 (lab-confirmed†; WHO)	0.03%

As per the latest WHO update (As of 9 May)  worldwide more than 214 countries and overseas territories or communities have reported laboratory confirmed cases of pandemic influenza H1N1 2009, including over 18036 deaths.

Also read- Influenza pandemics: past, present and future.

 

Related articles

• WHO Publishes Comprehensive Report On H1N1 (medicalnewstoday.com)
• 'Fake' swine flu pandemic? WHO slams charges (msnbc.msn.com)
• WHO 'overstated' swine flu danger (guardian.co.uk)