Laser Developed to Detect a Person’s Vegetable Intake — #HITsm Chat Discovery

This is the continuation of the #HITsm Tweet Chat Highlights series.


Veggie-detecting laser helps doctors track your diet, cut through little, white lies wapo.st/NB1ZHT via WaPo  

— Elin Silveous (@ElinSilveous) 

This article brings up a subject that most everyone can probably relate to — answering questions from doctors and dentists…with answers that may qualify as “white lies.” Such as, flossing, exercising on a regular basis, and drinking the right amount of water. It’s not like anyone can know if you weren’t totally honest in your response, right? (well, I’m sure they medical professional would have an idea…but innocent until proven guilty, yes?)

Think again. A laser created by a University of Utah physicist and Yale University epidemiologist can detect whether or not a patient is getting as many vegetables as they claim. If this becomes mainstream, many of us (myself included) might be getting a lecture from their doctor. How many people even know what constitutes a serving anyways (It’s more than some people realize. And no, potato chips do not count.)

The laser detects the amount of carotenoids present in one’s body. The more veggies a person eat, the higher the level will be. The test is non-invasive — a fiber obtic probe is simply place on the patient’s palm or inner forearm. A blue laser beam shines onto the patient’s skin, and after about 30 seconds, a measurement of carotenoids is shown. If a person has a high amount of carotenoids present, their skin will appear very green.

By using this new technology, the article above discusses other consequences, beyond getting lectured by the doctor. Peter Smith from Fast Co Exist suggests:

How does diet tie in with the risk of developing cancer? Do people receiving federally financed supplemental nutrition eat more vegetables wen they live near farmers’ market that double the value of food stamps?

While it could do the above, the author of the article said she was nervous about the veggie-laser having the potential over being “overly-invasive”:

What if health care companies begin meausuring carotenoid levels as a screener for insurance premiums? Or government agencies use the test results to grant or deny social assistance through food stamp nutrition programs like SNAP and WIC?

Now, if the government gets involved, I might have a problem with this technology. But if it helps medical research along, allows doctor’s to get a better idea about their patient’s diet, and in turn, help them live a healthier life style, I’m all for it. Either way, it’s pretty cool.

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August 31, 2012 I Written By

Katie Clark is originally from Colorado and currently lives in Utah with her husband and son. She writes primarily for Smart Phone Health Care, but contributes to several Health Care Scene blogs, including EMR Thoughts, EMR and EHR, and EMR and HIPAA. She enjoys learning about Health IT and mHealth, and finding ways to improve her own health along the way.

Filed Under: Gadgets  Healthcare IT
Tags:#HITsm  Carotenoid Detector  Fast Co Exist  Peter Smith  Veggie Detector

Robotic Glove That Diagnoses Illnesses: Coming To A Doctor’s Office Near You — #HITsm Chat Discovery

This is the continuation of the #HITsm Tweet Chat Highlights series. 

Have you read about the “the hand” – you examine yourself with glove – wireless to doc for dx? ow.ly/dd6is 

— CIPROMS, Inc. (@CIPROMS) 

Here’s a video about this one:

Basically, you examine yourself with this glove, and it diagnoses you. It supposedly can detect anything the size and location of a lump during a self-breast exam, identify enlarged lymph nodes, to determining a cause for abdominal pain. From there, the information gathered can be delivered wirelessly to another source. The possibilities appear to be endless. While it isn’t yet available for use, the creators (two engineers and a Harvard Medical Student), hope to release it to “medical education settings” to help doctor’s better their examiniation skills, and then to actual, practicing physicians. Eventually, they hope to create a “consumer-friendly” version that will be available for anyone who wants to do self-exams on themselves. According to the article, “In Med Sensation’s future filled with robotic hands, patients will need to go to the doctor for a whole lot less.”

Are doctor’s going to become obsolete in the future? I mean, if this “magical” hand can pretty diagnose everything, we’ll just have to go to doctors to get things like prescriptions filled, and given treatments for the hand-diagnosed illnesses, right? Well, probably not. I don’t think I’ll be trading in actual one-on-one contact with a physician for a robotic hand. As I was telling my husband about this, he commented that it sounded like a hypochondriac’s dream product. He’s probably right, which is why I don’t think it would be a good idea for me to use one.

I do think this product could cut down significantly on how many people go into doctors, if, in fact, it is very accurate. I wouldn’t want my health to be in the “hands” of this glove necessarily (okay, cheesy joke) unless I knew it was not going to misdiagnose me. It’s a pretty awesome invention though, I must admit.

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August 29, 2012 I Written By

Katie Clark is originally from Colorado and currently lives in Utah with her husband and son. She writes primarily for Smart Phone Health Care, but contributes to several Health Care Scene blogs, including EMR Thoughts, EMR and EHR, and EMR and HIPAA. She enjoys learning about Health IT and mHealth, and finding ways to improve her own health along the way.

Filed Under: Gadgets  Health Care  Healthcare IT  mHealth  Mobile Health Care  Patient Home Monitoring
Tags:#HITsm      mHealth Glove    Robotic Hand  

Noninvasive Total Cholesterol Tested By Digital Camera — #HITsm Chat Discovery

For those familiar with the EMR and HIPAA and EMR and EHR blogs in the network, you might have seen some posts recently highlighting the weekly HL7 Standards weekly #HITsm Chats. Four questions are posed, and there is always some great discussion. If not, here are some of the recent round-ups.

August 4th, 2012 #HITsm Twitter Chat

August 18th, 2012 #HITsm Twitter Chat

This weeks chat had some interesting topics that really pertain to social media, smart phones, and health. I learned about some cool products and that have recently been developed, so I thought I’d share with Smart Phone Health Care’s readers. (to read the full transcript, click here). Over the next few days, I’m going to highlight a few of the most interesting tweets that I found during last week’s chat.

Now this was interesting. I don’t know about you, but I hate getting my blood drawn. Not only do I have the smallest veins ever (I’ve been told by phlebotomists that I should be dead they are so small . . . not exactly the most encouraging statement ever), but I nearly pass out every time. Apparently, some researchers in India have developed a way to determine a person’s total cholesterol by simply taking a picture of the bag of their hand. I guess cholesterol is concentrated in creases of a person’s finger, and this new test would compare the patient’s hands to a database that contains images of hands with known total cholesterol level. Now, if this is truly accurate, I think a lot of people are going to be happy! Now if next time they’ll develop a way to do the gestational diabetes test that pregnant women have to take, with a digital camera as well, I think I’ll be happy too! I’m a little skeptical about this though — not sure if I want my health relying on a digital camera!

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August 28, 2012 I Written By

Katie Clark is originally from Colorado and currently lives in Utah with her husband and son. She writes primarily for Smart Phone Health Care, but contributes to several Health Care Scene blogs, including EMR Thoughts, EMR and EHR, and EMR and HIPAA. She enjoys learning about Health IT and mHealth, and finding ways to improve her own health along the way.

Filed Under: Health Care  Healthcare IT  mHealth  Mobile Health Care  Patient Home Monitoring
Tags:#HITsm  Cholesterol Tests  Digital Camera Health Tests    Mobile Health  Noninvasive Total Cholesterol Test

iPad/iPhone Restraint and Sedation in the Emergency Room for Kids

Going to the emergency room is terrible.  It is almost always at an inconvenient time, the wait is always terrible, and oh yeah, you or someone you love is seriously hurt.  When that someone is your own child it is even harder to try and calm them down so that the doctors and nurses can give them the help they need.

In the past doctors were forced to use restraints or even sedatives to be able to perform their work.  But, some doctors have found something even better, and far less dangerous for the child: smartphones and tablets.

Distracting children with a smartphone or tablet is not new to anyone with kids.  Rare is the outing that doesn’t involve my daughter using my phone to entertain herself, and in turn make for a more pleasant evening for every at the venue.  But to think that these same devices would be equally as effective as restraints and drugs just blows me away.

Fierce Mobile Healthcare has a few links to the actual case study as well as blog posts from The University of Chicago, who conducted the study, and Dr. Ryan Radecki, who has found this to be a reality in his emergency room.

Having made multiple trips to the emergency room with my kids I know how hard it is to entertain them throughout the whole process.  It is awesome to know that something as simple as a video or app can be even more effective than harmful drugs.

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August 23, 2012 I Written By

Filed Under: Health Care  iPad  iPhone  mHealth  Mobile Health Care  Smart Phones  Tablets
Tags:Dr. Ryan Radecki  Emergency Room Distractions  Fierce Mobile Healthcare  iPad Distractions  iPhone Distractions  University of Chicago

Five Health Communities Every Patient Should Use

Here are Smart Phone Health Care, I’ve focused a lot on mobile health apps. However, there are also a lot of great websites out there that have been designed to help the average person take control of their health. Some of these websites have mobile apps that accompany the sites, but even those that don’t can be accessed from a mobile browser. Here are some of the best patient information/health communities out there, at least in my opinion:

1. WebMD: I think this is quite possibly the most well-known health website out there, but it definitely should be included in this list. I recently reviewed their smart phone app, but I absolutely love their website. It’s the one I turn to most with my medical questions. Sometimes, they might provide too much information (only because it’s fuel for my hypochondriac-ism). This is definitely a one-stop medical website, as it has everything from search tools for symptoms and doctors, to medical news, to different categories with plenty of information, including healthy living, drugs and supplements, and parenting and pregnancy. I like that registered users are able to store and access health records on the site, and that, if a user allows it, healthcare providers can access the information. It’s also an interactive community, with blogs and forums, as well as the “ask the experts” feature. The site is available free of charge.

2. Vitals: When I was looking for an OB/GYN, I frequented this website. It’s a database of just about every physician around the country, and even has many international doctors listed. You can search by the doctor’s name, location, specialty, or medical need, so even if you don’t have a specific doctor in mind, you can find one that fits your needs. Users are encouraged to rate doctors on several different categories, specifically on ease of appointment, promptness, courteous staff, accurate diagnosis, beside manner, amount of time spent with patient, and follow up. It also shows which hospitals a doctor is associated with, their location, education, and other languages spoken. There’s also a cool feature where you tell the website what symptoms you have, and based on that information, a doctor is recommended for you. You can even add in an insurance filter, so you don’t waste time calling someone who doesn’t take your insurance (believe me, I know how frustrating that can be!)

3. Livestrong: This website always is among the first two or three search results whenever I have been Googling anything health related. I’ve come to really like this site, and the detailed information it provides. It was founded by Lance Armstrong and Richard Rosenblatt since March of 2008, and has been going strong ever since. The site was created to help people make good and health decisions, give inspiration, and a provide an outlet of reliable information. From the moment you enter the website, it is a customized experience — you select your gender, and then you are brought to a page with gender-specific information. Livestrong has SO much information that is pertinent to just about anyone and any topic. I’ve found ideas for substitutes for different ingredients, calorie information, and general health news. Livestrong.com also has a great mobile app where you can track your calories and exercise.

4. Healthline: I’ve never actually used this website, but from what I have read, it is highly recommended. It is supposed to be an alternate option for going to the doctor. You can type in your symptoms and suggested diagnoses appear, and you can search for medical advice. There is a lot of information on this page about different conditions, so if you have been diagnosed with something, this would be a good place to go to find out more information. Like all the other websites I have mentioned, advice is free of charge. There is an option to sign up for alerts when information on specific topics are added, and even when something by a specific doctor or writer is updated. It is similar to WebMD in its function, but definitely has a different feel to it in my opinion.

5. iMedix: This is a social media, health community where there are support group for different conditions, where people can ask questions of other users, as well as search the large database of information that is available. Users can create profiles and message other users, and there is a great list of question and answers. I am a member of a “birth club” for the month my son was born on BabyCenter.com, and it’s just kind of nice to have a support group of people going through similar situations. I could see similar comfort coming from the support groups available on this site, which range from fitness, to depression, to the swine flu. There are some great search features, and I think it seems like a very well-managed health community. I love how it incorporates social media, and allows users to really customize their experience.

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August 22, 2012 I Written By

Katie Clark is originally from Colorado and currently lives in Utah with her husband and son. She writes primarily for Smart Phone Health Care, but contributes to several Health Care Scene blogs, including EMR Thoughts, EMR and EHR, and EMR and HIPAA. She enjoys learning about Health IT and mHealth, and finding ways to improve her own health along the way.

Filed Under: Health Care  Healthcare IT  Healthcare Social Media  mHealth
Tags:Healthline  iMedix  Lance Armstrong  Livestrong  Richard Rosenblatt    Vitals  

Detecting Parkinson’s with a Phone Call

Smartphones can do just about anything these days.  I will not be at all surprised when they develop a smartphone to clean your house, and I will also be the first one in line to buy it.  One of the new amazing technologies that is being developed by Max Little, Ph.D. at MIT.

The Parkinson’s Voice Initiative is developing a voice based diagnostic to aid in the detection of Parkinson’s Disease.  Dr. Little is also a TEDGlobal 2012 fellow and you can find his TED Talk on the subject on this page.

You can also find a great interview with Dr. Little by the people at MedGadget on their website.

According to MedGadget at least 5% of Americans over 80 have Parkinson’s in some form.  Obviously the first step in helping these people is detection.  This new technology has a detection accuracy of 98.6 overall accuracy.  That is pretty incredible when you consider the relatively simple concept.

Like so many of these technologies, the smartphone can bring these benefits to people who never could have used them before.  A patient wouldn’t even have to visit a lab to make the recordings, they could simply call in on their phone.

Technology like this can’t help but make me wonder what other diseases we could be detecting and curing that we haven’t even thought of yet.  What diseases do you think could be aided by smartphones?

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August 21, 2012 I Written By

Filed Under: Health Care  mHealth  Mobile Health Care  Smart Phones
Tags:                  

Health Care and Pinterest: Not Just A Website For Finding Recipes

Just about every woman (and even a few men) I know have a Pinterest account. What’s Pinterest? Well, it’s basically a virtual pin board where people around the world “pin” links to ideas for crafts, meals, and parties. But beyond the idea that Pinterest is just for Holly Homemakers, is a very powerful tool. I’ve discovered many health tips that have benefited both my family and me, been able to organize different articles on health that I’ve found across the Internet, discover helpful medical and health apps (to write about on here), and even to promote my articles. I think that spreading information is easier than ever because of social media, and Pinterest shouldn’t be overlooked when doing that. While many doctors and hospitals are getting more into mHealth and social media by getting Facebook pages and Twitter accounts, I’ve started to see more join on Pinterest. I’ve seen recommendations for doctors and hospitals get pinned, articles about mHealth, and more. The possibilities are endless with Pinterest, and I think it would be great for it

Baylor Health with great health information on them. If you are on Pinterest I definitely recommend following them.

1. : This board has just about everything you could think of to help care for the health of your family. From tips on how to prevent or heal sunburns, to helping children cope with traumatic events, to tips on how to talk to a doctor, this board is very informative. I love that the posts are family friendly, and can be easily shared with children.

2. It seems like whenever I go to a website, looking up symptoms or an explanation for a medical condition, there is some kind of quiz. These quizzes aim to help you

3.  On here, you’ll find articles about cancer, signs of a stroke, and more. It’s all about making consumers more aware of their health.

Many of my favorite health care organizations have created Pinterest pages in order to interact more with their patients. While most of the pins I see are mainly about food and crafts, I keep seeing more and more health related pins pop up. I found the infograph that I wrote about a weeks ago, and just today saw an article about “smart fingertips”, which could be the latest and greatest invention for surgery.

So when social media and health care are being discussed, I don’t think Pinterest should totally be dismissed. It definitely has just as much power as Facebook and Twitter, at least, in my opinion.

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August 20, 2012 I Written By

Katie Clark is originally from Colorado and currently lives in Utah with her husband and son. She writes primarily for Smart Phone Health Care, but contributes to several Health Care Scene blogs, including EMR Thoughts, EMR and EHR, and EMR and HIPAA. She enjoys learning about Health IT and mHealth, and finding ways to improve her own health along the way.

Filed Under: Health Care  Healthcare IT
Tags:Baylor Health  Family Health  Health Quizzes    Interactive Health  Pinterest  Recipes

FDA Approves Voice Guided Epinephrine Injector: Auvi-Q

I recently went on vacation and stayed with a friend who has a son that is highly allergic to any and all dairy products.  My first thought was how terrible it would be to live without ice cream, cheese, or even a bowl of cereal, but then I realized just how tough it must be.  Dairy is in everything, and is a huge part of what most kids eat.  I can only imagine how hard it must be for them to make sure their son is safe.

Like most people who suffer from severe allergic reactions, they always carry a couple of epinephrine injectors just in case they miss something and he has a severe reaction.  Not being someone who has to deal with that, I don’t have a lot of experience with them, but I can’t imagine that they have actually changed much over the years.  I mean how much can you do to a needle that injects you with epinephrine?

The answer is something very simple, that may very well save some lives.  A company by the name of Sanofi recently received FDA approval for a voice-guided epinephrine injector called Auvi-Q.  This new device provides step by step audio instructions of how to properly use the injector.  It also provides visual cues including an alert light to signal that the injection is complete.  A video demonstration of its use can be found below.

It is entirely reasonable to think that a person having a severe allergic reaction could freak out and not remember how to give themselves an injection, so this device provides a solution to a very real problem.  On top of that, it could also be very useful in the event that the patient needs help from someone else to give the injection that may not be familiar with how to do so.  In either case the instructions are also written on the packaging to help ensure proper use.

In this day and age of new gadgets and apps that don’t really serve a worthwhile purpose, it is always refreshing to see an improvement on a well-known product that could very well save lives.

 

 

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August 15, 2012 I Written By

Filed Under: Gadgets  Health Care  Medical Devices
Tags:Auvi-Q  Dairy Allergy  Epi Pen  Epinephrine Injector  Sanofi  Severe Allergic Reactions  Voice Guided Epi Pen

Runtastic Makes Tracking Exercise Easier and More Fun

If none of the running apps from this post struck your fancy, here’s another great one to try out. Runtastic. It’s not just a run of the mill running app. It’s a running app on steroids. Their moto is “runtastic – makes sports funtastic.” When I first started to review it, it didn’t seem too different from apps I’ve tried in the past, but the more I looked into it, the more I really liked it. If you are really meticulous about tracking your exercise, this definitely is the app for you. It tracks just about everything I can think of. And, it isn’t just for running. The app has tons of different exercises you can select and have it track. Here is the main page:

It keeps track of the history of your exercise, and at the top is a running total of how many calories have been burned, total duration, and mile count. From here, you can also select specific workouts that you want to view the details of. I haven’t used the app too much, so I’m not sure if the workouts stay forever, but it seems to have a good history.

The next few screen shots show what is kept track of for each workout. The main page shows the pace, speed, elevation, and calories. At the end of each workout, you can put in an emoticon to describe how you felt, what kind of terrain you ran on, and even the temperature (which is automatically put in by the app).

The split table allows you to see how fast you went at certain times throughout the exercise session (this particular one was a walk), such as the fastest and slowest sections.

The graphs available show where the elevation was at, the speed, heart rate and pace throughout the run (or whatever exercise you selected).

Finally, you can view a map of the run. This is pretty standard for most running apps.

Potentially the coolest feature of this app is 3D Google Earth view. Unfortunately, this is only available for Android devices, but if you have one, it’s pretty awesome. Check out this video about what it is exactly:

The app also lets users hook up different sensors to more accurately track heart rate, steps, and speed. Ones that have been created specifically by runtastic will be available soon. Check out the sensors here.

runtastic also has different apps that are more specifically tailored to different sports and exercises. The one I reviewed is the standard one that is most specifically for running, but there’s a pedometer, walking, and even winter sports. Check out a full list here. I wasn’t totally sold on how accurate the calorie counter was, as once I started the tracking prematurely as I sat and waited for my sister to arrive, and it told me I had burned around 30 calories just sitting there. I feel as if it would be more accurate if there was the ability to enter in stats, such as age, weight, and sex, and then calories burned would be more accurate. Who knows though.

There are also training plans available for users. This function is only currently available for the iPhone, but there are quite a few available . I wish I had an iPhone, because it seems pretty cool. The plans can be accessed online for those of us without an iPhone, but they obviously aren’t quite as accessible because it isn’t going in your ear as you run. They do cost money, usually around $8 for a Gold member, or $14 for anyone else. To become a Gold member, check out membership fees here.

One kind of fun feature is the “cheer” function. If you allow your app to connect to the runtastic website, your workout will be featured “live” and people can cheer you on. If you need some motivation, that might do the trick. You can also view lots of details concerning your workouts through your online account, connect with friends, input body measurements, and more. I probably won’t use that too often, but it seemed like a neat interface.

The app is available for the iPhone, Android devices, Blackberry devicse, and Windows 7 devices though the features do vary. The lite version is free, but to really get the full functionality of the app, it would be a smart idea upgrade to the Pro version:

iPhone: Runtastic Pro – 5.99 Runtastic – Free

Android:  

Blackberry: Runtastic Pro – 3.99 Runtastic – Free

Windows 7: Runtastic Pro – 4.99 Runtastic – Free

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August 13, 2012 I Written By

Katie Clark is originally from Colorado and currently lives in Utah with her husband and son. She writes primarily for Smart Phone Health Care, but contributes to several Health Care Scene blogs, including EMR Thoughts, EMR and EHR, and EMR and HIPAA. She enjoys learning about Health IT and mHealth, and finding ways to improve her own health along the way.

Filed Under: Android  Apple  Blackberry  Gadgets  iPhone  mHealth  Smart Phones  Social Networking Health  Windows Phone
Tags:      

Medical Schools Developing School-Specific Apps for Students

Since I recently suggested 5 Must-Have Apps for Medical Students, I found this article to be intriguing. Apparently, medical schools are starting to create their own apps for students in their programs. The articles lists five reasons why medical schools are starting to provide students with school-specific apps:

  1. There is no readily available means of knowing which apps are safe, reliable, and useful
  2. The apps are developed by clinicians and others out of real and specific needs
  3. A wide range of resources are readily available
  4. Reimbursement is not a prerequisite for development
  5. They are unique and complex healthcare institutions

Until certification programs, such as the one being developed by Happtique, are up and running, I would be wary of trusting just any medical app out there. For that reason alone, I think it is a good idea for med schools to create apps that they approve for students to use. That, or provide a list of apps that have been reviewed by professors and clinicians at the University. Because probably every student in medical school has a smart phone, this would be a great resource to have available for students.

Every school is different, even if the bulk of the material taught is the same. Having course-specific apps developed by clinicians and other educators at the school would be helpful for both students and teachers a like. The article mentioned that this could possibly encourage adoption success, which is a win-win all around. And going into number three, what better place to develop a medical app than a place that has just about every medical resource available? I would be way more likely to trust an app created using medical school resources than just some company that creates apps.

I feel like most of the reasons are similar and connected in some way, but they definitely make sense. While I’m not a med student, or anything close to it, I can definitely see the value in this. There are a lot of possibilities for great apps that could be created. It makes me wonder if possibly a new fee will be added to the already exorbitantly high tuition that comes with medical school: app creation fee. I don’t see this totally coming without a price!

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August 9, 2012 I Written By

Katie Clark is originally from Colorado and currently lives in Utah with her husband and son. She writes primarily for Smart Phone Health Care, but contributes to several Health Care Scene blogs, including EMR Thoughts, EMR and EHR, and EMR and HIPAA. She enjoys learning about Health IT and mHealth, and finding ways to improve her own health along the way.

Filed Under: Android  Apple  Gadgets  Health Care  Healthcare IT  Healthcare Social Media  iPad  iPhone  Medical Devices  mHealth  Mobile Health Care  Smart Phones  Tablets  Windows Phone
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