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Posted on Sep 16, 2012 in Letters | 0 comments

Ethical Considerations Related to Mobile Technology Use in Medical Research

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A/Prof Melissa Parker MD^1,2
¹Pediatric Critical Care Medicine and Pediatric Emergency Medicine, McMaster Children’s Hospital,²Pediatric Emergency Medicine, The Hospital for Sick Children, Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, University of Toronto in Medicine.
Corresponding Author: parkermj@mcmaster.ca
Journal MTM 1:3:50-52, 2012
DOI:10.7309/jmtm.23

Mobile technology has become increasingly prevalent in the workplace. Smart phones, tablets, and other forms of personal digital assistant have particular appeal for professionals seeking tools to enhance productivity. Research in particular requires the capacity to collect and process data in an efficient and cost effective manner. Investigators are increasingly turning to mobile devices for solutions as programs and data handling capabilities become more sophisticated. With these developments, however, arises the need to contemplate and address ethical considerations relevant to mobile technology use in the research context.

Posted on Sep 16, 2012 in Letters | 1 comment

The use of short message service (SMS) for patient appointment reminders

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Susan McClean¹, Dr Mahendra Perera MBBS¹
¹Albert Road Clinic, Melbourne, Australia
Corresponding Author: mcLeans@ramsayhealth.com.au
Journal MTM 1:3:53-55, 2012
DOI:10.7309/jmtm.24

Albert Road Clinic is an acute care private psychiatric hospital with active and committed Psychiatrists who work with us. The Albert Road Clinic Consulting Suites is based within the hospital and this space is tenanted by approximately 40 consultant psychiatrists who work either full time or on a sessional basis in their private practice. Several psychiatrists approached me to try and resolve the issue of their patients not attending for scheduled appointments; the non- attendance has potential detrimental effects for the patient (who may have forgotten the appointment) leading to possible clinical risk. The other consequences have been an adverse effect on the consultant psychiatrists’ business and the inability to back fill the appointment for which the patient has not attended.

Posted on Aug 10, 2012 in News | 0 comments

SecuraFone Health – A Glimpse to the Future

The days of the trusty watch dog are over. Say hello to the 21st Century boys and girls where all you have to do is switch on your grandad’s iPhone and it’ll watch your grandad for you! Thanks to SecuraTrac and Vital Connect potential medical emergencies can be managed both effectively and in record time giving you,your loved ones and even your doctors some well deserved peace of mind. From epileptics to patients with heart failure the uses of this app are endless, and the technology’s fairly simple. SecuraTrac’s GPS enabled tracking devices are being coupled with Vital Connect’s body sensors to produce SecuraFone Health, an Android and Apple iOS product which will monitor respiratory rates, pulse rates, temperatures and other vitals and immediately alert the health professionals and care givers if any change is recorded.

How is this all possible you may ask? Well, Hermosa Beach, California based SecuraTrac will use its already available driver tracking software and Vital Connect will provide the biosensor, in the form of a water resistant patch worn on the chest or back. A single patch will be effective for 2-3 days at a time and will give caregivers a sense of security in always knowing where their patients, children or parents are and how they’re doing.

And there’s more. SecuraTrac CEO, Chris Holbert states that the app will be available in the form of a monthly service which will be linked to a 24/7 emergency response center with trained health care professionals that can respond to health emergencies as they happen, when they happen. The release date for this mobile personal emergency response system (or mPERS for short) is set for the end of this year but there has still been no official word on the pricing or the type of wireless technology that will be used. SecuraTrac already offers a tranditional active system called LifeTrac mobile protector which requires patients to hit a panic button when they require assistance.

Links:

http://www.securatrac.com/home/

Posted on Aug 5, 2012 in News | 0 comments

News – Hemoglobe device and mobile technology a solution for global maternal anemia

The effects of suboptimal maternal haemoglobin levels on perinatal outcome have been well studied in numerous cohorts around the world. Child-bearing women who are anaemic (defined as a haemoglobin level of less than 11 grams per decilitre) are at risk of preterm delivery, having babies of low birth weight, neonatal APGAR scores of less than 5 at 1 minute and most significantly are at increased risk of fetal death in utero.[1] The prevalence of anemia (most commonly iron deficiency anemia) is highest among pregnant women due to the increasing demands of the growing fetus. It has been estimated that 49% of pregnant women and 45% of children under five are affected by iron-deficiency anemia, which equates to approximately 150,000 maternal and 700,000 newborn deaths annually.[2]

A group of biomedical engineering undergraduate students at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, America have possibly contrived the solution for global maternal anemia: Hemoglobe, which is a non-invasive device connected to a mobile phone to estimate the haemoglobin level of the user. With the burgeoning use of mobile phone devices amongst health care workers in remote locations around the globe[3], the detection of pregnant mothers with anaemia is a close reality with field testing of this new device planned for communities in Kenya early next year. Hemoglobe functions by the principle of absorption spectrophotometry: the sensor is placed over the patient’s fingertip and different wavelengths of light are emitted, which are then absorbed by the red blood cells in the capillaries. The device then measures the degree of light absorption and this transmits to a program on the mobile device to calculate the haemoglobin level.

Estimated costs to produce the device are around the vicinity of US 10 to 20 dollars. The technology is not new as other medical device companies such as Masimo have developed similar devices, however the software connected to the HemoGlobe will also send an automated message to a clinical centre. Thus health workers are able to determine which areas have the highest prevalence and direct resources accordingly from something as simple as iron supplementation to expediting a review at the nearest clinic. As one of the developers Greenbaum states, the technology is now functional, but: “now, we have a greater challenge: to prove that it can have a real impact by detecting anemia and making sure the mothers get the care they need.”

[1] Lone FW. ‘Maternal anemia and its impact on perinatal outcome’. Trop Med Int Health. 2004 Apr;9(4):486-90.

[2] Mason, Rivers and Helwig. “Recent trends in malnutrition in developing regions: Vitamin A deficiencies, anemia, iodine deficiency, and child underweight,” Food and Nutrition Bulletin 26: 57-162, 2005.

[3] Tamrat T. ‘Special delivery: an analysis of mHealth in maternal and newborn health programs and their outcomes around the world.’ Maternal Child Health Journal. 2011 Jun. (online)

Posted on Jul 11, 2012 in News | 2 comments

News – StethoCloud: a smartphone stethoscope

A low-cost digital stethoscope that can attach to a smartphone may represent the future of saving millions of children in Third world countries. StethoCloud is is designed to listen and digitalise a patient’s breathing sounds and patterns. Those patterns are then compared against a medical database via cloud infrastructure. Then an automated report is generated though Algorithmic Artificial Intelligence Decision Support. Such software could potentially allow an earlier diagnosis of pneumonia and reduce the mortality of children in developing countries.

StethoCloud is the Australian entry in the international Imagine Cup 2012. The Australian software design team led by Hon Weng Cheng, a third year medical student at the University of Melbourne, has advanced to the second round and is in the World wide finals. Go Aussies! Oi-oi-oi!!

SteathoCloud at the Imaginecup