Showing posts with label google health. Show all posts
Showing posts with label google health. Show all posts
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Everyware Health Care: Vena, the Wireless Asthma Inhaler Delivers Readings to PC, SmartPhone, or Online Electronic Health Records
According to a recent CNET article written by Dong Ngo, Cambridge Consultants is offering a wireless asthma inhaler that links patients with health care providers via wireless technologies and electronic medical records such as Google Health or Microsoft Health Vault.
"The platform, called Vena, employs two emerging wireless standards, including the Infrared-based IEEE11073 and the Bluetooth Medical Device Profile. Vena embeds the two into a single chip as the combination of them ensures compatibility of data exchanged between different types of devices and the security in the transmitting of medical data."
Design Matters
The design of this inhaler is stylish, and I'm sure that children and teens with asthma wouldn't mind carrying this around at school. Why is this important?
Asthma is the leading serious chronic illness of children in the U.S.
According to the American Lung Association, "Asthma is the leading serious chronic illness of children in the U.S. In 2006, an estimated 6.8 million children under age 18 (almost 1.2 million under age 5) currently had asthma, 4.1 million of which had an asthma attack, and many others have "hidden" or undiagnosed asthma. In 2006, the highest current prevalence rate was seen in those 5-17 years of age (106.3 per 1,000 population), with rates decreasing with age. Overall, the rate in those under 18 (92.8 per 1,000) was much greater than those over 18 (72.4 per 1,000). Asthma is the third leading cause of hospitalization among children under the age of 15 and one of the most common causes of school absenteeism."
A less-attractive alternative for the connected teen is the bulkier prototype, a collaboration between SiliconSky GPS and David Van Sickle, a University of Wisconsin researcher.
According to another CNET article by Dong Ngo, "The prototype GPS inhaler is packed with technologies. It features Assisted GPS, a GSM modem, integral antennas, an embedded microprocessor, and an internal rechargeable lithium ion battery. The battery allows for up to 10 days of operation between charges."
The GPS inhaler might be useful and usable, but will not used as medically intended unless it has a great "look & feel".
With the increase in the numbers of children and teens with asthma, it is important to design on-the-go medical devices that increase compliance and healthy choices. It has to be cool.
Some references from the American Lung Association:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National Center for Health Statistics, National Health Interview Survey Raw Data, 2006. Analysis by the American Lung Association, Research and Program Services Division using SPSS and SUDAAN
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. Healthy Youth! Health Topics: Asthma. December 7, 2007. Available here.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. Healthy Youth! Health Topics: Asthma. December 7, 2007. Available here. Accessed on December 20, 2007.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National Center for Health Statistics, Advance Data from Vital and Health Statistics. The State of Childhood Asthma, United States, 1980-2005. Number 381, December 12, 2006 (Revised December 29, 2006). Available here. Accessed on December 20, 2007.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Everyware Health Care: Real Life Examples
I'm devoting some of the posts I write for this blog on the topic of "Everyware Health Care", an over-arching concept that emphasizes how existing and emerging technologies can help to improve delivery of health care and also enhance health-care user experience.
About 182,000 patients at the Cleveland Clinic use MyChart, an in-house electronic medical record. More recently, the hospital is testing out Google Health Records with 1,500 patents and Microsoft's Health Vault with 500 patients. According to an article in the Plain Dealer, the hospital supports the use of electronic medical records because it can reduce costly mistakes and redundancies.
| Checking blood pressure |
The video above shows how blood pressure can be charted and tracked daily, providing the physician with information that can better monitor and adjust medications. With Microsoft's Health Vault system, patients can upload medical information via a glucometer, pedometer, weight scale, or blood pressure monitor, depending on the nature of their health concerns. The system provides a means for uploading information to the system wirelessly, which is important for people who travel a lot for their jobs.
My Family Health Portrait is an on-line tool provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that allows people to enter their family health history, create drawings of family health history to share with health care providers or other family members, and to integrate the health history of other family members into your own. The source code for developers is available for free.
Some of the basic work related to integrated electronic medical information systems is hospital-focused Microsoft's Amalga software, which has been rolled out in several hospitals around the world. The following video shows how the system works at Bumrungrad International Hospital, and how it improves the hospital user experience, not only for the patient, but for the medical staff as well:
RELATED
Cleveland Clinic makes electronic medical records personal, more accessible
Sarah Jane Tribble, Plain Dealer 3/31/09
News about wireless technology in healthcare from Healthcare Informatics
Telehealth Services
POST: ElderGadget: Tech Devices for Health
POST: "Everyware Health Care": A Personal Focus
POST: Everyware Healthcare: Microsoft Health's Common User Interface website, usable health care applications, pervasive health games....
POST: SoftKinetic 3D Gesture Recognition for Games and Rehabilitative Play
Microsoft plans big move into European healthcare market
Tola Sargeant, Ovum
"Amalga does not complete with electronic health or patient records, it compliments them. As well as providing a single view of the patient, it enables analysis of all data from across the organization, which in turn can be used to drive change and performance improvement."
Microsoft releases hospital IT system as Amalga
Dana Blankenhorn, ZDNet Healthcare 2/13/08
Will Behavioral Health Be Left Behind?
David Raths, Healthcare Informatics 3/30/09
"While the stimulus bill was being written, Scalia said, his company worked with the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare to try to have the Medicaid incentive language changed. They were not successful, he added, because there was a concern that it would increase the cost of the incentive section above the $20 billion mark."
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