Doctors' Use of Email and Social Media : Guidelines

Tens of Thousands of Indian doctors are using the internet, efficiently and otherwise. From search rankings to blogs and community building to branding, the internet has brought up new ways to communicating and researching. Here are the links to a few helpful guidelines to help doctors navigate the online world.

Doctor-Patient Email Communications is a growing trend and hard to underestimate. Very often, physicians are unsure of the limits and liabilities of conducting medical communication via email. Luckily the American Medical association has long back issued a set of practical guidelines to follow

Social Media is now being widely used by doctors as well as patients. All doctors even remotely on social media face many ethical and moral questions regarding online physician-patient relationships. Recently, the AMA posted some guidelines for Doctors use of social media tools in a professional capacity. Even the Australian and New Zealand Medical Associations have come out with their combined effort on this dilemma. Here’s the link to the Physician Social Media Guidebook (a 14 page pdf you can download/ view online). It is one of the most practical and useful guide of its kind online.

Related articles

• How doctors should professionally behave on Twitter (kevinmd.com)
• Using Web 2.0 technologies and social media for the cardiologist's education and update (medicineandtechnology.com)
• Physician reputation management in the age of social media (kevinmd.com)

Doing More With EMRs: What Are The Top Reasons For Failure?

Electronic Medical Records hold a lot of promise. When used well, EMRs decrease drug errors, streamline work flow, assist in clinical decisions and allow efficient accounting. At the same time, EMRs chosen without proper thought and assessment can cause long term pains. The really restrictive EMRs won't even let you shift medical data elsewhere and healthcare providers maybe stuck with outdated EMRs soon after buying them.

EMR failures are most often a cause of one or more of the following four reasons

• Technical EMR implementation failures, because of issues with hardware/ software combination or wireless connectivity issues;
• Financial failures, where the expected EMR ROI wasn’t realized, or the costs were significantly more than expected;
• Software incompatibility issues, where the EMR system didn’t interface with an existing medical practice management system; and
• People-related issues, where some physicians or staff members avoid training or simply refuse to use the EMR system. 

Making an EMR work for a healthcare provider needs work before, during and after installation of an EMR system. When choosing an EMR system, Ignore the bells and whistles and Look at the nuts and bolts.

The 10 Most Innovative Companies in Healthcare '2011

Here's a list of 10 most innovative companies in health care ( as per Fast Company), working to provide simple but effective technology solutions in healthcare.

1) Epocrates

For creating software that gives doctors and nurses instant information on drug-to-drug interactions, treatment recommendations, and more on their mobile devices or laptops.

2) SynCardia Systems

For giving mobility to artificial-heart recipients. Syncardia makes the world's only FDA-approved completely artificial heart. During a ten-year study for the FDA, 79 percent of patients successfully lived on the man-made heart until receiving a human heart transplant.

3) Voxiva

For developing mobile apps that coach users through everything from smoking cessation to diabetes management. The company recently worked with the U.S. government to launch Text4Baby, a mobile education program for pregnant women, and its work in poor countries like Rwanda has been a lifeline.

4) Cleveland Clinic

For rethinking the entire hospital experience, from the buildings to the hospital gown, with an eye to delivering a better patient experience. Ombudsman complaints dropped over 40% last year (versus 2009), patient satisfaction scores have gone up, and medical outcomes have been better across the board.

5) SafePoint

For providing a solution for one of the most intractable global health care issues: reused syringes, which render most injections in India, Pakistan, and Africa--and a growing number in the U.S.--unsafe and sometimes fatal. Inventor Marc Koska's low-cost syringe can't be reused--one use, it locks in place. Now, after eight years in the marketplace, Koska has licensing agreements with 14 countries and SafePoint's global awareness campaigns have reached over 500 million people.

6) Envoy Medical

For creating the first FDA-approved surgically implanted hearing system to address hearing loss caused by aging, noise and viral infections. Placed under the skin behind the ear, the Envoy device comprises a sound processor, sensor, and driver that convert vibrations in the ear into electrical signals that are processed so they're perceived as sound.

7) GE

For promising to revolutionize diagnosis with the Vscan, a mobile, pocket-size ultrasound machine the size of an iPod, connected to short wand. It works just like the bulky conventional ultrasound machine, providing an instant visual image (in color or black and white) inside the body, beyond a patient's vital signs.

8) PharmaSecure

For coming up with cost-effective protection against counterfeit drugs, which are especially prevalent in developing nations. Each individual drug package is stamped with a unique code and phone number. Consumers submit the code via text message, and PharmaSecure confirms the drug's authenticity. The service launched last year and is currently being used in India, where the government has moved to mandate the technology.

9) Neurovigil

For building a database of brainwave activity to help researchers recognize disease patterns in people affected by neural or nervous system maladies. The company's iBrain headband, worn at night, uses wireless electrodes to capture brainwaves. NeuroVigil's software interprets the data to produce a map of activity during sleep that's richer than anything previously available.

10) Second Sight Medical Products

For its ground-breaking retinal-implant technology, which recently hit the European market. FDA approval is pending.

You can also see the last year's list:

• Top 10 Innovative Companies in Healthcare 2010

Indian Medical Association Plans Programs to Make Members Tech Savvy

The potential of improving Healthcare quality by proper use of technology is immense.Recent advances in information technology offer clinicians valuable new tools to support the medical management of patients. HIT has the potential to enable a dramatic transformation in the delivery of health care, making it safer, more effective, and more efficient.

The national unit of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has decided to make its two lakh members across the country, especially senior medical practitioners, more tech savvy. The National vice-president of IMA, Dr Devendra Shirole says,“Short contact programs of four days will be organized at all local branches of the IMA. Doctors will be trained on how to use information technology for the betterment of medical profession and patents’ data collection.” He said the doctors will be also trained on using e-books in their daily practice.

The IMA will launch this project initially in Maharashtra and the inauguration will take place in Mumbai. Groups, formed for research purposes, will use information technology to study diseases and viruses.To undertake this vast project, talks are on with software companies to provide trainings and technical support, as well as help IMA build web pages for the same.

Also See:

• Costs and Benefits of Health Information Technology
• Technoclinics- Upcoming scenario in India

When It Comes to Acne, We've All Been Duped And Lied To Our Entire Lives

When it comes to acne, I've got some really bad news for you.

You've been lied to; we all have.

It's true, unfortunately. Take, for instance, diet and acne. Do you think there's any connection between the two? If you're like most people, you would say, "Of course not! They disproved that myth years ago!"

Did they?

Do you know the exact specifics on the research they did to establish this proof? Again, most people won't know but they'll know there was probably a pretty well documented study or studies determining the validity of their statements. I thought the same thing, but I inevitably came across something pretty shocking and disturbing when I came across the truth. That exhaustive research?

A week long study....40 years ago!!

I couldn't believe it either; the entire basis for the "there's no connection between diet and acne" is a 7 day long study carried out in 1971. During that study, participants were given several servings a day of coffee, chocolate and other items. At the end of the week, doctors saw no new pimples so they shrugged and said "No connection!"

Ever since then, it's been shouted from mountain top to mountain top that there's no connection.

Since then, however, there have been year long studies on several different groups of people. An Inuit tribe was studied as they changed from a traditional diet to a more modern, westernized one. A group of Ache people (natives living in Paraguay were also studied in a similar manner. Finally, a group of people from Brazil were studied as they moved to the US and then back to their country.

In every, single case, occurrences of acne were non-existent. That is, until, they began eating a diet much like our own. Afterwards, many began breaking out in pimples. Now this might not exactly be the nail in the coffin, but the group from Brazil lost their breakouts after moving back home.

But wait, it get's even better! Dermatologists that have began to question the traditional views have started to treat many of their patients through diet; they have put their patients on a low glycemic index (GI) diet. What this simply means is the patients don't eat foods that cause large insulin spikes in the blood stream; no white bread or white flour items, little to no processed foods in favor of whole grains, vegetables and healthy meats and fats. In many cases, their patients have shown vast improvements.

Now I don't think you have to eat perfectly all the time to achieve clear skin, far from it. However this begs a very interesting question:

Why has the mainstream been lying to us for so long?

At the very least, why do they refuse to even take a second look at their long established views when it's become quite clear that they should at least reevaluate their position. Well, that question leads me to the acne industry itself.

The acne treatment industry is a billion dollar a year business. It is quite lucrative because, as I'm sure you're well aware, people will do almost anything to get clear skin. Just looking back at my own experience, I would've done almost anything to finally get rid of my pimples. Now when it comes to the medical industry as a whole, most of it is very influenced by the drug corporations. Much of the literature, continuing education and perks of the job are paid for and written by the pharmaceutical companies.

So instead of writing and researching more into holistic treatments that focus on things like the diet and acne connection, it's more focused on creating a new gel or cream to put on your skin to stop your pimples. Just look back about a year ago; do you all remember epiduo?

Epiduo was this great new breakthrough treatment for acne. Its secret? A combination of a retinoid, a man-made version of vitamin A in layman's terms, and benzoyl peroxide. This incredible combination did nothing other than over dry most people's skin. Before then, it was a combination of salicylic acid and benzoyl peroxide and before then, it was either or and before then....etc.

It's always something else with them. You know why? Because for the products to actually work, you have to keep taking them. That's assuming the products actually work for you in the first place! So instead of researching real, lasting cures that attack the root problems within your body, the industry prefers to manufacture "treatments" that force you to keep buying over and over again. Cured patients stop buying; treated patients keep shelling out the dough!

I don't know about you, but I'd prefer not to play their games. Getting back to the diet connection, you don't need to eat like a rabbit and never go out with your friends; far from it. Going down that route, you'll only stress yourself out and keep trying to restrict your diet more and more. You'll ultimately fail and feel even worse than before. But what you can do as an acne prone person is cut back on some things to start:

Dairy products have insulin-like growth factor in them that causes similar problems as normal insulin in our bodies: oily skin that flakes off as well as an overgrowth of bacteria. Cutting back will help alleviate your symptoms.

Drinking more water is very important; it hydrates your skin and helps flush excess hormones and toxins from your body

Green, leafy vegetables are important too. They alkalize the blood and help heal your body and skin from the inside.

So stop playing the acne game and stop buying into their lies. Acne is a problem that begins inside our bodies; trying to treat your acne by putting stuff on your face will only lead to failure. The breakouts, oil, dead skin and bacteria are all symptoms of the actual problems inside.

Treat your real problems, cure your acne from the inside out, and your body, as well as your face, will thank and reward you.

Check out My Blog on acne to learn more about curing yourself once and for all through proper treatment

Impact of Use of Healthcare Information Technology on Environment

Optimum use of technology in healthcare can work wonders on many parameters. It improves patient safety. It streamlines use of hospital resources. It betters regulatory compliance. Patient satisfaction and physician efficiency is increased.But there's another parameter which has never been measured before : Impact of use of healthcare information technology on environment.

An analysis by Kaiser Permanente shows that use of health information technology can dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions and produce other important environmental savings.The analysis found that comprehensive use of health IT by Kaiser Permanente:

• Avoided the use of 1,044 tons of paper for medical charts annually
• Eliminated up to 92,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions by replacing face-to-face patient visits (and the associated travel) with virtual visits
• Avoided 7,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions by filling prescriptions online
• Reduced the use of toxic chemicals, such as silver nitrate and hydroquinone, by 33.3 tons by digitizing and archiving X-ray images and other scans
• Resulted in a positive net effect on the environment despite increased energy use and additional waste from the use of personal computer

Though paper based records are legally still required in India (for 5 to 15 years, depending on type of record and location of institution), the numerous benefits of health IT and use of electronic medical records by hospitals and physicians cannot be ignored.
Also See:

• Benefits of EMR
• Adding Value to Healthcare