Healthcare Career Blog, Physician Blogs

Does a smart phone make a smart physician?

Author Healthcare Career Blogger | 06.09.2009

In the past, some physicians have been resistant to computer-based medical technology because they were either unfamiliar with it, thought it was too time-consuming or felt it might chain them to a desk. But medical technology on the mobile phone has changed many physicians’ minds.

The AMA’s news site, amednews.com, reports that that 64% of doctors are using smartphones: iPhones, BlackBerrys, Treos and other hand-held devices with voice, wireless Internet access and powerful applications that turn the cell phone into a mobile computer.

An article in mobilehealthnews reports that in November of 2008 a medical student lobbied Apple to create a “medical” category for applications in the AppStore that would include applications for physicians, nurses and other healthcare workers. The medical category is now the third-fastest growing type of application for the iPhone.

According to Manhattan Research, some of the most widely used mobile applications for physician jobs are drug and clinical references, as well as clinical tools such as dosage calculators. The Diffusion Group conducted a study two years ago which concluded that mobile devices are unlikely to replace desktop systems entirely, but they can help physicians become more efficient by bringing applications to the point of care. Mobile devices also provide an opportunity for more data feedback from patients, both anecdotal and from medical monitoring devices. For example, a Bluetooth-enabled blood glucose monitor synchs up to a diabetes management application running on the iPhone.

While support for medical accessories is nothing new, an application called AirStrip is promising much more with its AirStrip CC (Critical Care) app. A demonstration showed that the app can take live sensor data and feed it to the iPhone over the Internet in real-time, giving doctors access to data when they’re not at the hospital. The touchscreen lets physicians measure statistics, like the distance between unusual heartbeats, by tapping two points.

In more conventional applications, smart phones are used as voice, alarm, text and paging devices for medical staff.

Interestingly some healthcare reform advocates have switched their focus from pushing desktop-based medical systems and are now advocating mobile-only. Though mobile systems offer a compelling upside of speeding up research and care for medical doctor jobs, mobile devices also present an opportunity for information overload. Even the first physicians who purchased plain-old cell phones quickly realized they were never really “out of the office.” We can only imagine what it will mean when an EKG can be viewed over the phone in real time.

For a list of top paid and free medical apps for an iphone, click here: itunes-medical