A new survey indicates nurses are relying more than ever on their smartphone for clinical care – to the detriment of the so-called "doctor on call." Conducted by InCrowd, a Boston-based market intelligence firm, the survey found that 95 percent of the 241 responding nurses own a smartphone and 88 percent use smartphone apps at work. More intriguing, 52 percent said they use an app instead of asking a colleague, and 32 percent said they consult their smartphone instead of a physician. "The hospital gets very busy and there isn't always someone available to bounce ideas off of," one respondent said. Said another: "It's often easier to get the information needed using my smartphone – I don't have to wait for a response from a coworker."
How does a doctor diagnose something they've never seen before? One answer comes in the form of online tool VisualDx, a website and app used by medics to solve clinical conundrums -- in real-time. Doctors use the site by typing in the symptoms they see on their patients to bring up a list of possible causes and accompanying images. The more clues they type in, the more specific their options become. It's then a case of matching what they see on their screen to what they see on their patient to make an informed diagnosis.
Video or telephone visits with doctors — the practice known as telemedicine — have survived one of their biggest legal challenges yet in Texas, but hurdles remain in Arkansas and some other states. The challenges come as telemedicine is gaining widespread support among major employers and many consumers. A federal judge ruled late last week that a Texas Medical Board rule that prohibited doctors from diagnosing patients over the phone was likely anti-competitive and blocked the board from enforcing it. The rule was set to take effect Wednesday.
Mayo Clinic CISO Jim Nelms, who previously spent 14 years at The World Bank securing financial information in war-ravaged countries and regions devastated by natural disasters, says protecting health-care information is far more difficult. "Medicine is 10 to 15 years behind in IT practices than other industries," he said. To hunt for nascent problems, Mayo Clinic has created a "threat intelligence group" within security. The group's founder recently quit for a vendor job, illustrating one of the tougher CISO challenges: keeping good people. CIO Journal talked with Mr. Nelms about what makes health-care vulnerable and why cybercriminals win. [Subscription Required]
Patients in Texas can continue to receive remote diagnoses and treatment after telemedicine company Teladoc Inc won a preliminary court order blocking a new state rule requiring doctors to meet patients first. The ruling in Austin federal court on Friday came the same day that Teladoc filed its public registration with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering. The company first announced its plans to go public in April. Founded in 2002, Teladoc describes itself as one of the first and largest U.S. telemedicine services, with a network of about 700 doctors and 11 million patients nationwide. About 2.4 million patients are in Texas.
A large-scale survey of U.S. doctors conducted by Decision Resources Group tells us that doctors are using digital tools and willing to receive data feeds from their customers, but they are quite frustrated by poor usability of digital healthcare tools and difficulty getting measurable results. The "meaningful use" incentives created by the ACA have caused most doctors to use electronic health records (EHRs). And, doctors are aware of the large amount of clinically relevant data that digital wearable devices can produce, and they are increasingly willing to engage with it, notwithstanding concerns about liability and accuracy. Doctors are using many other digital health resources too; they are not captive to EHRs.