A telemedicine trial, undertaken by Cisco, has proven a success after almost 100 percent of responses suggested the technology used was acceptable, according to Cisco Systems, a U.S.-based multi-national corporation.

Cisco, NHS Scotland and the Scottish Centre for Telehealth teamed up to run the trial at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary in early 2008. The trial tested the performance of Cisco’s TelePresence and HealthPresence solutions in supporting medical staff’s treatment of patients with non-life threatening illnesses.

HealthPresence provides a more efficient way for doctors to assess patients’ symptoms using physiological data obtained through stethoscopes, blood pressure cuffs and thermometers. Over the five months, 105 patients were treated. Ninety-nine percent of the patients said they were satisfied with the experience.

Source:HealthCare IT News

WebMD,medscape division has introduced free tools for health care professionals,using Iphone and Itouch.

This enables,healthcare professionals to

View Drug Interactions,

Read Medical News

Participate in Contiuing Medical Education credits.

For a free demo of their model visit..

C. Peter Waegemann, CEO of the Medical Records Institute and executive director of the newly established not-for-profit mHealth Initiative, says that in the last several years, cell phone use had been forbidden in most hospitals and clinics. Now, however, they are moving toward becoming among the most prized tools to decrease costs, improve care, and provide an optimal way to communicate with patients.

The vision of the mHealth Initiative includes 10 application clusters that will enhance the overall delivery of healthcare through the use of cell phone technology.

A primary goal is to foster better communication between patients and doctors through avenues such as short message services, texting, or even calling rather than scheduling an office visit. For example, the patient can send medical information via a cell phone or an agenda prior to an appointment to make the visit more effective. “There is a major move to having personal medical records available on their cell phones. We expect between 10 [million] to 30 million patients to have this information by the end of 2009,” says Waegemann.

From 411 on Cellphone applications in Healthcare

How Mobile Devices Benefit Healthcare

• Cell phone, smart phone, and other mDevice users can store their personal health information safely and securely on their phone in order to share it with authorized healthcare professionals when healthcare services are needed.
• Specific mDevice software can provide preferred and easy communication between healthcare providers, patients, payers, pharmacists, and others, facilitating medication reminders for patients, appointment scheduling, easy emergency calling, and other functions.
• mDevices can serve as the platform for consumer health-related software such as wellness-related programs and disease management programs. A wealth of functions related to diseases ranging from asthma to diabetes, from smoking cessation to general pediatric applications, are currently being developed and tested.
• mDevices offer clinicians and patients quick access to health information for clinicians and patients. Patients can look up information about medication or symptoms of their health status. Imagine a patient looking up a specific medication after it has been prescribed at a clinic visit, noting it interacts with another of their medications that they failed to mention during their visit and alerting the clinic physician – also via the cell phone – before having the prescription filled. Clinicians, on the other hand, can access protocols at the point of care and/or other professional information that is available on the Internet while with a patient or away from their desk.
• mDevices can be very efficient tools for medical research, offering the power of the Internet and enabling patient data to be transmitted easily and instantaneously to authorized, pre-programmed research centers.

More about mhealth initiative…

Cell phones are now a common part of our everyday lives. But not only is the technology taken for granted, its wide-reaching potential is largely unrecognized. The technology that is found in cell phones and PDAs is currently being applied to improve health services in developing countries.

The United Nations Foundation (UNF) and Vodafone Foundation (VF) Technology Partnership is using mobile health (mHealth) technology to support UN programs in developing countries. Innovative mHealth projects are powering the collection of health data, supporting diagnosis and treatment, and advancing education and research in even the most remote and poverty stricken environments.

In health care, time is of the essence. With mobile technology, data can be quickly and accurately collected, allowing health workers to coordinate their efforts and track the success of health campaigns. This technology can also be used in disaster and outbreak response, to track the spread of an epidemic in real time. With the most up-to-date, easily accessible information and communications, mHealth is revolutionizing healthcare delivery in much of the developing world.

From MediaGlobal

Researchers from Harvard Medical School have led the development of a prototype “return on investment calculator” that can measure the value of prevention services. Using a Boston-based mobile health program called the “Family Van” to test the tool, the team found that for the services provided in 2008, this program, in the long run, will return $36 for every dollar invested.

The Family Van, a program of HMS, is a mobile clinic providing preventative health care and education to disadvantaged areas throughout Boston. The Van provides screening, testing, and education in areas such as nutrition, weight management, diabetes, heart disease, pregnancy, and STDs, to name a few. Their goal is to train and educate people in taking the steps necessary to prevent or better manage chronic disease.

Ref

Harvard Medical School. “Mobile Health Care: Preventative Medicine Returns $36 For Every Dollar Invested, Study Suggests.” ScienceDaily4 June 2009. 26 July 2009 .

There is considerable interest in development of this new technology.But,innovation is the key in development of new applications in health care.

In a report published by Inter American Development Bank-Innovation Note_

Innovation is just invention unless it enjoys practical application; it has to work in reality to have an effect. Technology alone does not drive change; rather, innovation in management and other processes together drive the adoption of beneficial technologies for good. Those projects that have achieved particular success or scale have done it through an integrated, locally driven initiative, with a high level of political support, good public-private partnerships, and a pervasive communication strategy along the value chain.