One of the applications for the iPhone which I think is crucial for medical users is iSilo since there are plenty of medical references in iSilo format which makes iSilo the de facto leader in the medical ebook arena .
Will there be an iSilo for the iPhone? I got this information from the iSilo Forums:
1) A platform version for the iPhone has been developed and is awaiting approval from Apple prior to release in the Apple store
2) The iPhone platform does not have any general file transfer functionality for the user, so at this point the developers are looking at some means of transfer through the Web
3) There will be auto-rotate and finger scroll.
4) There will not be multi-touch zoom in/out in the initial version, but the developers are looking into that for a future update.
Of course if Styletap for the iPhone is released (it’s still under development), then one could run the Palm version of iSilo under Styletap but it won’t be the same as a native version of iSilo for the iPhone.
Here’s a video of Styletap for the iPhone in action, showing amongst other things, iSilo
There are other ebook readers for the iPhone and one interesting one is Bookshelf. I must say that installing ebooks on the iPhone seems to be such a pain compared to Palm!
The Mobile MIM iPhone Application is a new multi-modality imaging application for the Apple® iPhoneTM and iPod® touch. This innovative software allows a referring physician or patient to view medical images remotely, without being tied to an imaging workstation.
The Mobile MIM iPhone Application provides multi-planar reconstruction of data sets from modalities including CT, PET, MRI and SPECT, as well as multi-modality image fusion. Using the multi-touch interface, users can change image sets and planes; adjust zoom, fusion blending, and window/level.
Patient privacy is assured because all communications are transmitted over a secure connection that uses password locks, tamper prevention, and data encryption.
A PDA phone with a camera can be a handy thing to have when you need to take pictures quickly and sometimes they can be of use in the clinic or the ward when you want for instance to keep a visual record of your patient’s progress.
Have you tried taking X-Ray pictures with your camera phone or PDA? I know the quality won’t be as good but sometimes it is nice to keep track of your patient’s progress by taking snaps and storing them in your mobile device.
Here’s a CXR of a patient with an opportunistic lung infection
The picture was taken with a Palm Centro and the X-Ray was on the normal illuminator in the ward. I notice there are horizontal bands appearing in the image and I think this has something to do with the fluorescent lighting used though I am not sure why it does so. Anyone have any idea how to overcome this?
For a limited time only USBMIS’ OutbreakID is now on offer at 30% less.
OutbreakID was developed for physicians and public health professionals who stand on the frontlines as the key agents for the early detection of outbreaks. OutbreakID covers potential outbreaks caused by exposures to toxins, chemicals, and infectious agents. It covers 156 infectious diseases, including nearly every disease listed in the Control of Communicable Diseases Manual.
It’s been a while since I mentioned Skyscape, one of the larger medical software publishing houses. They cater for multiple platforms, including Palm, Windows mobile, iPhone/Ipod Touch, Symbian and the Blackberry.
Here are some new releases from Skyscape:
The Pocket Doctor
Billed as the “smallest ward resource available”, it “Provides the very basics of what students need on the ward for rapid prompting just before examining patients”
Spanish Reference for EMS Providers
Designed to provide translations for Emergency Medical Services personnel of all provider levels, from First Responder to EMT-Paramedic
2009 Lippincott’s Nursing Drug Guide
Contains over 800 complete drug monographs and full-color photos of pills and capsules and 25 rapid-reference appendices ideal for practicing nurses.
Medicine Recall
Designed primarily for third- and fourth-year medical students in clerkships, Medicine Recall covers the core specialty areas within internal medicine: cardiology, pulmonology, nephrology, gastroenterology, hematology, oncology, infectious disease, endocrinology, allergy and immunology, rheumatology, neurology, and dermatology.
I don’t use a Blackberry though I wonder how many BB owners use their device for more than just push email? I was surprised to see so many Medical titles for the Blackberry on Pocketgear. Many of the titles are from Skyscape which seems to be pushing support for multiple platforms as are many PDA vendors these days. I guess that’s the trend since there isn’t exactly a dominant platform these days. Good in that means there’s plenty of choice for we consumers but I guess that’s bad for developers!
If you are a Palm Treo or Centro user I don’t think we miss out on Push email. ChatterEmail for instance is an excellent Push email client for the Palm. Coupled with all the Palm medical software available I think we’re still ahead of the Blackberry users
Those of you in California would have had to get one as of this year. Where I live, using a hands-free kit has been compulsory for years - though I really think it doesn’t impact that much on road safety as using a mobile phone in any way when driving is just as bad!
What I am saying though is if you are a medical doctor who does procedures, then I think a Bluetooth headset is indispensable. When one is doing a minor procedure like setting an IV cannula, bone marrow biopsy, administering chemotherapy etc., then it can get quite annoying when your mobile phone goes off halfway through your procedure!
You might then appreciate a mobile phone/bluetooth headset combo which can take your calls automatically. Not all phones can automatically transfer incoming calls to your bluetooth headset without you having to press some button either on the headset or the phone. I have a Sony Ericsson phone and although it can transfer outgoing calls to the headet without any user intervention, the same cannot be said for incoming calls.
Treo and Centro users can rejoice as there is a way to automatically transfer all calls to your headset. The setting is in your Preference panel. Tap on the Hands-free option and you can check the “Always route call to Hands-free” box. The auto-answer can be set to immediately or after 1-2 rings as you desire.
What bluetooth head set is your favourite? I have gone through quite a few myself as they don’t seem to last. I think I must have owned 3 different Sony Ericsson models, a Step 1150 (which made me look like I had a growth coming out of my ear!), a Samsung WEP 200 which was nice and small (but the button broke) etc. I now use an i-Tech Clip II Mini which has a short wire no doubt but this means that the ear piece is light as the battery is clipped elsewhere. It pairs and works very well with my Treo 680 and Centro.
One of the things about medical software databases is that they can be quite large. A full installation UpToDate will occupy something like 1.3 GB of SD card space.
If you are an owner of an older Palm device like the Tungsten TX and the Lifedrive, then you are stuck with SD cards up to 2 GB capacity and cannot use the newer high capacity SDHC cards (4 GB and above). You might still be lucky and find some 4GB non-SDHC cards but these are becoming scarce.
Well you don’t have to look hard as Dmitry Grinberg of PalmPowerups has released the first public beta version of his SDHC drive. You can read more here
Treo and Centro owners needn’t worry as their devices are SDHC compatible.
The other day I strolled into ICU to see a referral and I saw a magazine left on the nurses’ table. I thought the Centro would make a nice addition to the cover!
I think any nurse looking to get an affordable PDA phone which can run a myriad of medical applications and yet looks good should get a Palm Centro!
The Medical Letter on Drugs and Therapeutics is an independent, peer-reviewed, nonprofit publication that offers an unbiased, critical evaluation of drugs. With a special emphasis on new drugs, physicians and other healthcare professionals get reliable, up-to-the-minute information from the ease and convenience of their handheld device. It evaluates virtually all new drugs and reviews older drugs when important, new prescribing information becomes available.
