Perhaps seeing a ‘job to be done’ in diagnosing sports concussions in rural areas where direct medical help can be distant, the Cleveland Clinic is now extending the usage of its Concussion Assessment System (C3) to assessing student athletes after suspect head blows. The two-year-old iPad app can be strapped on to the back of the athlete to measure movements that indicate balance problems, and assesses cognitive and motor impairment; information processing ability; attention/memory; balance and visual acuity. (more…)
First human to human brain control – yikes!
University of Washington researchers have performed what they believe is the first non-invasive human-to-human brain interface, with one researcher having used a brain signal to control the hand of a fellow researcher.
Rajesh Rao sent a brain signal to his colleague Andrea Stocco (who was on the other side of the university campus), causing Stocco’s finger to move on a keyboard – involuntarily! It’s pretty cool stuff and you can watch a video of it here.
“It was both exciting and eerie to watch an imagined action from my brain get translated into actual action by another brain,” Rao said. So how was it for Stocco? Maybe slightly less thrilling – he compared the feeling of his hand moving involuntarily to that of “a nervous tic”! (more…)
Why HIT CIOs breakfast on aspirin
CIO has an excellent summary of how HIT is attempting to cope with the tidal wave of mHealth. Moving away from the ‘look up, receive alerts’ passive mode versus being able to enter data on that mobile device (whether BYOD or hospital issue) means having to focus on architecture, infrastructure and governance priorities (rather than one-offs), fitting mobile into workflows (field discovery of clinical needs), alignment of IT with line-of-business departments and figuring out how patient engagement really works plus how it fits into the previous (and it’s not the hype of what developers would like to see and sell.) Healthcare IT Struggles to Keep Up With Mobile Health Demands
Sanitizing iPads: study
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/iPad-wash-me.jpg” thumb_width=”150″ /]It was inevitable–that the increased mobilization of in-hospital healthcare would lead to a study about reduction of microbial surface contamination leading to increased risk of nosocomial infection transmission. (Editor Steve and I were flagging this up in 2011 for both clinical devices and the patients!) Here’s the first study this Editor has seen on reducing the microbial load on iPads, and it’s out of Germany. Using a standard disinfectant–isopropanol tinted blue, otherwise known as alcohol, applied on the front, back and sides of the iPad in a six-step process–the procedure achieved a 98 percent + reduction compared to non-disinfected iPads. However this may violate the warranty, as the study warns! Study looks into standard disinfection of iPads in clinical setting (iMedicalApps)
AdhereTech pill dispenser adds wireless network provider
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/05_AT-Bottle-Light_with-pills.jpg” thumb_width=”175″ /]AdhereTech’s compact pill bottle for medications that need extra minding for accurate dosing beyond the usual ‘med reminder’ has just acquired a wireless backbone through KORE Telematics. AdhereTech, which was accelerated through Blueprint Health and is based out of StartUp Health here in NYC, has received some recent awards but is still in the lengthy clinical trials phase with Walter Reade Army Medical Center for patients using Type 2 diabetes medications and with Weill Cornell Medical College for single-dose HIV medication. KORE has provided M2M wireless services for Meridian Health [TTA 24 June 11] but hasn’t been prominent in health tech of late based on their press. Smart pill bottle developers ink deal with wireless network provider KORE (MedCityNews) KORE press release
Previously in TTA: Smart pill bottles 2.0, AdhereTech wins Healthcare Innovation World Cup, Pilot HealthTech NYC winners
So many apps, so little time
Over the past few days there seems to have been a particularly rich set of alerts related to mHealth apps (there’s even been an update to the mHealth Grand Tour website with a nice video to promote the tour that starts on 5th September). Adding to them a couple that others have kindly alerted me to, here are a few that might interest:
Let’s begin with an infographic on the rising popularity of mHealth apps that puts it all into context. However, in some countries mHealth is being held back by outdated privacy laws, and in the US lack of final FDA guidance is considered a check on progress. If you ever wondered how much data your DNA, or your most recent scan contained, (more…)
Samsung gets jump on 2014 smartwatch rush
Breaking news
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/galaxy_gear_mockup.jpg” thumb_width=”175″ /]Word via Mashable is that Samsung’s shot over the bow in the smartwatch wars comes on 4 September when it introduces its smartwatch, the Galaxy Gear, just ahead of the IFA consumer electronics trade show in Berlin. Rumor has it that it will be in five colors (white, orange, gray, black and the newest trend, white gold). This couples with their recent introduction of the massive phablet, the Galaxy Mega. No word yet on health applications, but what comes in the smartwatch will be an indicator of Samsung’s seriousness about extending S Health. (Photo is mockup) Samsung’s Galaxy Gear Coming Sept. 4, Samsung’s Smart Watch Rumored to Come in Five ColorsPreviously in TTA: Smartwatches as the 2014 tablet, redux; Apple-ologists discern ‘new’ interest in health tech and telehealth
Owlet baby monitor sock moving to market
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/product_sock-Owlet.png” thumb_width=”150″ /]About nine months ago [TTA 6 Dec 12], the Owlet baby monitor in prototype won a student competition at Brigham Young University. It definitely ‘socked it” to this Editor at the time as an elegant way to monitor baby vital signs or signs of distress; it is a sensor-rich sock transmitting to a smartphone. While it still had pending patents, needed further prototyping and of course no FDA approval, I recommended “if you’re an angel looking for a highly marketable telehealth item–and with adult uses in hospitals and nursing homes–a trip to Utah may be in order.” Owlet is now seeking $100,000 in crowdfunding directly via its website and Amazon checkout (it was rejected by Kickstarter for being a baby product!) and will ship the device at an early bird rate of $159 once the funding is achieved. (more…)
It’s that word again, and a new association (take your pick III) (UK)
First it was two cohort studies of the same project, then two reviews of reviews, and now two new organisations have recently emerged in the telemonitoring world.
So, to that word. London Telecare has just announced it is planning to change it’s name to UK Telehealthcare and go nationwide. No ®, no ™: true independence. This follows on from the recent emergence of (more…)
Gamification in the US; any great examples closer to home?
In spite of gamification being at the peak of inflated expectations in the 2013 Gartner Hype Cycle, here’s a great example from the US journal Pediatrics of its use to encourage young people with cancer to improve their medication adherence. The subject was also covered in the BBC’s Click (starts 13.55 into the programme), and the Hope Labs website is here…
…which prompts the question as to where the best examples of gamification use to improve health & wellbeing are on this side of the Atlantic. (more…)
At last a supportive article on telehealth! (UK)
Richard Vize has written a highly-recommended article in the Guardian today entitled “GPs continue to do battle with government over telehealth”. This gives some valuable context to why publications such as Pulse continue to dredge up the historic Whole System Demonstrator (WSD) cost/QALY statistics as it did on Wednesday and Thursday last week.
TTA readers will of course be aware of the reasons why those figures are so unrepresentative of the technology from our recent post on why it’s time to bid farewell to the WSD.
Particularly pleasing is to see recognition of the role of telehealth as a means of promoting wider improvement in the way care is delivered:
“Eventually, other costs will start to fall as telehealth becomes a catalyst for wider system change. At present it is a bolt-on to a care system poorly integrated and not adapted for telehealth. It will require clinicians to work together in new ways, particularly in more effective joint working between community and hospital staff.”
Saving a life with Google Glass
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/screen-shot-2013-07-05-at-9-10-08-pm.jpg” thumb_width=”200″ /]Further to Contributing Editor Toni’s posting on Google Glass being used during cardiothoracic surgery [TTA 26 August] is this report of a Glass app, CPRGLASS, coaching the user through CPR and developed by . The camera utilizes an algorithm which can detect a human pulse; the coaching provides music to do compressions by (at 100 per minute), uses the gyroscope to determine their adequacy, tracks time, number and calls 911 with the proper location as well as contacting nearest hospital. Even The Gimlet Eye likes this app as part of the proper potential in healthcare–as long as it isn’t mixed with the MTV Video Music Awards which would spell Cardiac Doom. ‘OK Glass, Save A Life.’ The Application Of Google Glass In Sudden Cardiac Death John Nosta in Forbes
Medtronic confirms forecast direction change, the market reacts, and brains are stimulated
The ‘reasons why’ we (and others like David Shaywitz in Forbes) proposed back on 12 August for Medtronic’s purchase of Cardiocom were fully confirmed by their CEO Omar Ishrak in Bloomberg (21 August) and an analysis in Forbes (24 August). However, the Forbes article continues on to dump a bucket of cold water on Mr. Ishrak’s ‘solutions provider’ strategem (so reminiscent of 2008-9 with different companies), positing that telehealth belongs with wireless/mobile companies (Qualcomm), companies further downstream (Allscripts, a major US pharmacy benefits manager) or other technology/monitoring companies. Mr. Market held the roses though (Deutsche Bank’s reiterated hold rating in Benzinga reflecting the consensus in Yahoo Finance).
What is interesting are their advances in brain stimulation to relieve pain in two areas. (more…)
Signs of a home monitoring bubble?
[grow_thumb image=”https://telecareaware.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Ambio-health.jpg” thumb_width=”175″ /]Suddenly home-based remote monitoring is very warm, if not hot. The news of investments at all levels–from Medtronic’s purchase of Cardiocom [TTA 12 Aug] to a $525,000 third angel round investment in AmbioHealth (which this Editor doubts would have been on MedCityNews’ radar a year ago)–sounds like home telehealth is finally, finally gaining traction with investors, which have been more attracted to hospital-based and fitness monitoring. But is it the right type of traction based on reasonable expectations? We were among the first to point out in 2010 in positing the FBQs* that where the data goes, how it’s being used and who’s taking action on it was critical. Now Robert Pearl MD in Forbes is also examining the new song of home RPM and finding a few off notes (or to mix metaphors, finding a pan of fool’s gold):
That’s because some promoters of home monitoring technology believe doctors will carefully scrutinize each EKG or blood sugar reading and use the information to tailor perfect regimens for their patients. This is not how medicine works.
and
Looking at thousands of EKG tracings won’t add much value either. In fact, putting all that information into an electronic medical record (EMR) only makes it more difficult for doctors to identify other, more vital pieces of information. Instead, doctors need to understand which of a few possible patterns are happening to determine the appropriate course of action.
Dr. Pearl’s prescription is for smartphones to embed telehealth monitoring capabilities at a price point slightly above the current cost, but less expensive than stand-alone devices (more…)
Humanising healthcare…or doctor making a ‘glasshole’ of you?
A cardiothoracic surgeon at the University of California, San Francisco recently performed surgery wearing Google’s wearable computer, Google Glass.
Dr. Pierre Theodore described his experience at the recent Rock Health Innovation Summit. During the surgery he used the glasses to compare the patient’s CAT scan images with what was in front of him. “There was a cognitive integration between what I saw in front of me and the radiographs. It was extraordinarily helpful,” he explained, likening it to driving a car and glancing in the rear-view mirror (as opposed to having to turn around to see what’s behind).
Also speaking at the event was Ian Shakil, Co-founder and CEO of Augmedix, a start-up company which is building applications for healthcare on Google Glass. According to Mr Shakil, one aim of the technology is to re-humanize healthcare so that physicians can focus on the doctor-patient encounter and cut down on the non-patient facing tasks, like taking notes and looking up medical records.
While it’s arguable whether or not companies such as Augmedix will succeed in further humanising healthcare (picture your doctor, one eye staring at you as you explain your latest woe, the other twitching around, viewing who knows what in a Google Glass eye-piece), various applications for Google Glass do seem to have real potential for being of benefit in certain healthcare settings.
Indeed, for better or worse, there’s little doubt that Google Glass (or a similar device) will be used in many professions in the not too distant future. And according to research carried out by Augmedix, most of us are fine with that. The company asked 200 patients before a visit if they minded seeing a doctor wearing Google’s head-worn gadget, and only 3 demurred!
However, as highlighted previously by the discerning gaze of TTA’s Gimlet Eye, we might be best served not to disregard the potential for misuse and abuse with wearable ‘cybernetic headbands’ such as Google Glass, not least in a clinical setting!
Read more: Fast Company / MIT Technology Review
Related TTA articles: Google Glass ‘hacked’ for hospital facial recognition / Google Glass through a doctor’s eyes / Google Glass: a proper potential in healthcare
Don’t be put off by the title…take II (and take your pick II)
Following on from yesterday’s post entitled “Don’t be put off by the title, or the conclusion, of this review of reviews“, Mike Clark has kindly pointed me towards another recent review of telehealth reviews entitled “Telehealth – the effects on clinical outcomes, cost effectiveness and the patient experience: a systematic overview of the literature”, this time from Salford University, authored by Dr Alison Brettle, Tamara Brown, Professor Nicolas Hardiker, Jon Radcliffe and Christine Smith.
This paper provides an intriguing contrast to the paper reviewed yesterday in a couple of, doubtless unrelated, ways. Firstly, whilst the word that was the subject of yesterday’s post does not appear in the title (it does appear in the text), the paper was funded by an educational grant from the organisation most often associated with that word. Secondly, the review is noticeably more positive, for example:
“There is more evidence for some conditions than others, but on the whole the trends are largely positive suggesting that telehealth is effective in:
- Reducing patient mortality and hospital admissions for chronic heart failure
- Reducing hospital admissions for COPD
- Reducing blood pressure in hypertension, improving glycaemic control in diabetes and reducing symptoms in asthma”
As with our two recent posts on Birmingham OwnHealth, it looks like it’s take your pick time again.
It is perhaps just worth adding that there are also significant similarities between some of the observations made in both papers, most notably about the small size of many trials, inconsistent collection of outcome measures and the weaknesses of the methodologies currently used for assessing the effectiveness of trials of medical devices.
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