A recent small scale study by Harvard Medical School indicates that software symptom-checkers still have a long way to go when identifying the reasons for medical conditions. This result seemed fairly consistent across different software so it is more a statement of the readiness of these systems rather than the accuracy of any one in […]
Tag: TECHNOLOGY
When in Doubt, Scan It
Whenever we visit the grocery store, we hear the constant beep of scanners from the checkout counter. In our travels in the developing world, and even in many US hospitals, we find very little scanning being used. A recent visit to a small hospital in Guyana was instructive of the digital divide between healthcare and […]
David and Goliath
In his seminal book on disruptive technology, David and Goliath, business guru Malcom Gladwell points out that Goliath didn’t have a chance against David who was wielding a technology that was a precursor to modern warfare where killing could be done at a distance. While the sling was not a new technology, having been invented sometime in […]
Will COWS Soon Be Extinct?
A tour through most hospitals in the US will find the halls and patient rooms filled with COWs (Computers on Wheels) or as they are also known WOWs (Workstations on Wheels). These over-priced computer stations were the backbone of first-generation hospital EMR systems but are rapidly giving way to mobile devices like tablets as EMR […]