With much detail, Stephanie Simon in The Wall Street Journal takes a look at ‘Medicine on the Move’. After an attention-getting but straw mannish start (how many physicians other than Dr. Eric Topol and who aren’t top cardiologists are going to tote about $8,000 Vscans rather than stethoscopes?), it’s a quick look at Docvia’s‘ invisible bracelet’ with a text code for ID-ing in emergencies, GlobalMedia’s telemedicine system for EMS ambulances, Mobile MIM’s iPhone/iPad scan viewing app, AirStripOB, EverOn’s mattress sensor for continuous monitoring of ICU patients, Sotera Wireless’ wristbands and even AT&T’s experimental slippers. So with all this monitoring, will we become a nation of ‘cyberchondriacs’ as Dr. Topol jokes? But that assumes that information magically induces action…and the even longer leap to data replacing the face-to-face doctor visit. David Doherty positions the opportunity more aptly in his article commentary: to ‘enable that face-to-face visit to be more timely, effective and convenient’ and ‘the biggest opportunity to practice safer, more effective care’. 3GDoctor
2 thoughts on “Do we lose or gain in mobile medicine?”
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love the wall street article, real future Friday material.
However the vision in David’s article that we can upload our medical histories and have a whole new relationship with our GP, just seems like a bridge too far. I hope David can prove me wrong!
Hi John,
Further to my response over on my blog: http://bit.ly/hedrh1
1) I’m not suggesting patients upload their medical histories, rather select answers to an intelligent interactive questionnaire. There is a big difference between the two.
2) In the above link I point to a lecture by Dr John Bachman of the Mayo Clinic. In his published research (involving >4000 patients) he has shown that as opposed to being a “bridge too far” this proven tool made 40% of “office visits unnecessary”:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20516427
Now thats some Friday material for you!