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FEATURE EDITORIAL


By Laura Hampton Over the last 20 years,


advances in information technology have changed


nearly every facet of our lives. From the way we interact with friends and family to how we pay our monthly bills, digital devices have become as important to information exchange in the new millennium as Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone was in the latter part of the last.


The challenge for businesses


has been deciding if, when and how to integrate the latest and greatest technology into their organization’s process flows. For health care providers, the answers are yes, now and we’re still trying to figure that out.


Health care as we have known it


in the last 60 years is changing. The Internet, smartphones, and the digital exchange of data, in general, have thrust the health care industry down the information superhighway right along with the rest of the world.


While not all hospitals and physician’s offices have adopted


digital processes, some in the region are taking advantage of today’s high-tech innovations.


Smartphone Apps Although smartphones have been around since 1992, it


wasn’t until Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone in January 2007 that cell phones morphed into widely used multi-purpose power tools. Today’s smartphones serve as cameras, video cameras, portable media players and Web browsers, in addition to their primary function as a mobile person-to-person communication device.


There are an estimated 98,000 software applications (apps)


for these handheld devices, and although the most popular are game apps, developers have created apps that provide valuable information and resources including reference materials, GPS navigational tools, social networks, news and entertainment, banking institutions, and advertising for a host of industries.


As the popularity of smartphones increases, software


companies will create newer and more diverse apps to keep up with demand. Soon, smartphones will be a necessary tool for medical professionals to use in their day-to-day business activities, although some physicians have already started taking advantage of this technology.


“On my medical page right now, I have about 30 apps alone,” says Dr. Sean Orr, a Jacksonville-based neurologist.


Orr uses a variety of smartphone applications including


Epocrates for prescription drug information, OsiriX to view MRIs and CT scans, and a variety of applications for coding and billing.


In addition to apps that aid in


his clinical practice, Orr uses his smartphone to read medical journals and store interesting articles, to present lectures at medical conferences using a slide projection application and to complete continuing medical education (CME) requirements.


According to Medical Health


News, there are nearly 6,000 medical and health-related smartphone apps on the market today. By all indications, this number will continue to rise.


“I believe medical application development over the next two to three years is going to explode,” Orr says. “And it’s going to be


exponentially great.” According to Healthcare IT


News, the hot trends for medical phone apps in 2012 include: Apps that track patient activity and provide a tool for


caregivers to monitor the activity of patients with chronic conditions like diabetes and autism. In addition to tracking the patient’s whereabouts and activities, these apps can detect and record signs of stress in children with autism by measuring the electrical changes in the skin.


Binary network apps that track peripheral devices, or


wearable censors and record the vital signs of patients all day, sendng an alarm to caregivers when data falls outside acceptable parameters.


Health-focused games, which are fun educational tools that


use gaming technology to improve health and health care. Apps that diagnose and treat patients using mini-electronic


boxes attached to a light head harness and electrodes. These devices monitor the patient while he or she sleeps and sends data to health care providers via the Internet.


Apps that empower patients and help consumers make


health-related decisions. These tools can be used to locate provider facilities or review a facility’s ratings, quality of care or available patient services.


Telemedicine Telemedicine provides an opportunity for doctors to treat


patients at a distance using two-way voice and visual communication devices (satellite or computer). Although telemedicine has been around in one form or another since the 1970s, advances in remote presence technology have ushered in a new era for telemedicine.


6 2012-2013 The Greater Daytona Healthcare GuideTM


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