Medical Industry Taps iPods for Use in Education and Practice

[rnformatics]

Here's an interesting iPods in Healthcare news item from iHealthBeat:

Medical Industry Taps iPods for Use in Education and Practice

As the medical field becomes more digital, physicians and medical students are using Apple's iPod as an educational tool and storage device, American Medical News reports.

The iPod has become a more convenient alternative to carrying around a laptop, paper health records or X-ray films, and medical professors are finding it to be a useful teaching tool.

American Medical News highlights three ways the iPod has been adapted into a tool in the medical field:

• Heart Sounds: Michael Barrett, a cardiologist and professor at Temple University School of Medicine in Philadelphia, created sound files of four types of computer-generated heart murmurs and converted the files to an MP3 format that his students could download and listen to on their iPods. Students who used his "Heart Songs" on average exercised 90% accuracy rates in detecting murmurs, compared with 20% to 30% accuracy rates of most medical students and residents. The American College of Cardiology has made Barrett's "Heart Songs" MP3s available online for download.
• Medical Podcasts: Grayson Wheatley, a cardiovascular surgeon at the Arizona Heart Institute and Hospital in Phoenix, began creating audio podcasts to help patients better understand complex medical issues. He also produced video podcasts that include taped surgeries, lectures and educational information on new treatments and procedures. The Arizona Heart Institute and Hospital launched the Cardiovascular Multimedia Information Network, which hosts an online library of past podcasts for patients and physicians that can be downloaded at no cost. In addition, some medical journals, such as the Journal of the American Medical Association, now offer audio podcasts.
• Memory Source: Two physicians, Osman Ratib and Antoine Rosset, developed software, called OsiriX, that recognizes the iPod and expedites the download of large radiological images, similar to how iTunes recognizes an iPod. The software, which only is compatible with Apple computers, lets physicians view and navigate data as effectively as expensive workstations, according to Joe Borelli, chair of the American College of Radiology MRI Accreditation Committee. The software is available as an open-souce download through Apple. An FDA-approved version is available through Aycan Medical Systems, a technology firm that develops software for radiologists (Lewis Dolan, American Medical News, 6/4).

[lovebee]

interesting article