TECHNOLOGY – Digital Health Technology

Are Computers Getting Ready to Supercede Doctors’ Diagnoses?

October 12, 2016October 13, 2016 Julie Earnest HEALTHCARE, TECHNOLOGY

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 particular. The study concluded that,... Read More

Commentary

When in Doubt, Scan It

August 2, 2016August 10, 2016 Editor MOBILE TECHNOLOGY, TECHNOLOGY, WORKFLOW0 comment

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 the rest of the world.... Read More

Commentary

David and Goliath

July 21, 2016September 1, 2016 Editor EHRI, HarmoniMD, Sonoma West Medical Center, TECHNOLOGY0 comment

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 the Neolithic period, its art... Read More

Commentary

Will COWS Soon Be Extinct?

July 14, 2016August 10, 2016 Editor EMR, MOBILE, TECHNOLOGY0 comment

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 systems catch up with the... Read More