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Posted on Jul 28, 2016 in Letter to the Editor | 0 comments

A Survey of Japanese Young Adults’ Postures When Using Smartphones before Sleeping

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Michitaka Yoshimura, MA1, Momoko Kitazawa, MA1, Taishiro Kishimoto, MD, PhD2,3*, Masaru Mimura, MD, PhD2, Kazuo Tsubota, MD, PhD1

1Department of Ophthalmology, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan; 2Department of Neuropsychiatry, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan; 3Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine, Hempstead, New York, USA

*Taishiro Kishimoto is not a recipient of a research scholarship.

Corresponding Author: t-kishimoto@keio.jp

Journal MTM 5:2:51–53, 2016

doi:10.7309/jmtm.5.2.8

Although mobile technologies, devices and software have enriched our lives in many ways, including medical applications, the potential negative effects are often overlooked. A growing amount of evidence suggests that there are potential negative impacts of smartphones on biophysiological processes, especially on sleep.1–6 Studies have shown that blue lights, especially the short-wavelength light (380 ~ 495 nm) emitted from smartphone monitors, disrupts circadian rhythm by retarding nocturnal melatonin production.7

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Posted on Jul 28, 2016 in Editorial | 0 comments

The era of automated systems to facilitate health care

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Rahul Chakrabarti, Dr1

1Chief Editor, Journal of Mobile Technology in Medicine

Journal MTM 5:2:1, 2016

doi:10.7309/jmtm.5.2.1

Dear Readers,

7th July, 2016

It is with great pleasure that we present the second issue of the Journal of Mobile Technology in Medicine for 2016 with excellent examples of translational mHealth research. One of the great challenges confronting global health care is accessibility and affordability to diagnostic technologies and timely referral to specialist services.

In this issue, Ludwig et al provide a brief overview of the existing technologies available to aid automated diagnostic and referral in the field of the ophthalmology. The authors provide a summary of a potential pathway for automated ophthalmic care through the use of mobile diagnostic devices that can facilitate image collection. The first step in the clinical algorithm is safe and accurate image capturing technologies. The authors highlight examples of mobile diagnostic adapters developed by the Peek Vision group (UK), D-eye system (Italy), and iExaminer (Welch Allyn) which convert the modern smartphone into an anterior and posterior segment image capturing device. These images can then be collated, filtered for quality, and interpreted by automated software and results can, in theory, be graded in real-time to provide risk stratification and triaging of patients.

Whilst the concept of automated diagnostics in ophthalmic care is not new, the challenge over the last 20 years has been to develop algorithms that meet sensitivity and specificity criteria to be safe for day to day real world clinical practice.1 Ludwig et al succinctly illustrate examples whereby the two common modes of automated image analysis, neural networks and deep learning are now meeting the level of reliability and reproducibility for safe clinical practice. Importantly, Ludwig et al highlight examples of the utility of automated grading technologies developed for two of the most common, yet insidious causes of global vision loss, glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy.

The evolution of automated diagnostic technologies now truly positions health care in the 21st century to reach and provide care to a greater population breadth than ever before. The benefits of such technologies will always be balanced by the caveats of the necessity for clinical correlation by a specialist or appropriately trained medical professional, the costs of equipment, and the need for further evidence in larger population based studies. This is particularly poignant for automated software based learning. Nevertheless, there is a clear value in ability of these technologies to facilitate early diagnosis, triaging and timely referral of patients in rural and remote and low-resourced settings, where the greatest burden of global morbidity exists.

Reference

1. Gardner GG, Keating D, Williamson TH, Elliott AT. Automatic detection of diabetic retinopathy using an artificial neural network: a screening tool. The British journal of ophthalmology. Nov 1996;80(11): 940–944.

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Posted on Jul 28, 2016 in Perspective Pieces | 0 comments

Pretesting mHealth: Implications for Campaigns among Underserved Patients

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Disha Kumar, BS, BA1,2, Monisha Arya, MD, MPH3,4

1Rice University, 6100 Main Street, Houston, Texas 77005, USA; 2School of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, Texas 77030, USA; 3Department of Medicine, Section of Infectious Diseases and Section of Health Services Research, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, Texas 77030, USA; 4Center for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness and Safety, Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center 2002 Holcombe Blvd (Mailstop 152), Houston, Texas 77030, USA

Corresponding Author: disha.kumar@bcm.edu

Journal MTM 5:2:38–43, 2016

doi: 10.7309/jmtm.5.2.6

Background: For health campaigns, pretesting the channel of message delivery and process evaluation is important to eventual campaign effectiveness. We conducted a pilot study to pretest text messaging as a mHealth channel for traditionally underserved patients.

Aims: The primary objectives of the research were to assess 1) successful recruitment of these patients for a text message study and 2) whether recruited patients would engage in a process evaluation after receiving the text message.

Methods: Recruited patients were sent a text message and then called a few hours later to assess whether they had received, read, and remembered the sent text message.

Results: We approached twenty patients, of whom fifteen consented to participate. Of these consented participants, ten (67%) engaged in the process evaluation and eight (53%) were confirmed as receiving, reading, and remembering the text message.

Conclusion: We found that traditionally underserved and under-researched patients can be recruited to participate in a text message study, and that recruited patients would engage in a process evaluation after receiving the text message.

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Posted on Mar 28, 2016 in Original Article | 0 comments

Smartphone use in Paediatric Practice: a national survey

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Adamos Hadjipanayis, Prof.1, Alexios Klonis, Dr2, Omar Assem Abdel-Mannan, Dr3, Alastair G Sutcliffe, Dr4

1Assistant Professor of Paediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, European University Cyprus, Cyprus; 2School of Clinical Medicine, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom; 3Academic Clinical Fellow, General and Adolescent Paediatric Unit, Institute of Child Health, United Kingdom; 4Professor of General Paediatrics, Institute of Child Health, UCL, United Kingdom

Corresponding Author: Adamos@paidiatros.com

Journal MTM 5:1:3–8, 2016

doi:10.7309/jmtm.5.1.2

Introduction: Smartphones have become universal among the general public since their launch in 2007. Alongside this, the use of smartphones and mobile medical applications (apps) by clinicians has risen exponentially.

Objectives: The aim of this study is to present the current prevalence of smartphone ownership among Cypriot paediatricians and the patterns of their use in everyday clinical practice.

Study design: A standardized telephone survey was conducted by trained interviewers on a random sample of all 225 currently registered and active paediatricians across all districts of Cyprus.

Results: From a total of 78 randomly selected eligible participants, 75 (96%) paediatricians agreed to participate in the study. The majority of physicians reported that they owned a smartphone (n =53, 71%) and the rest (n=22, 29%) used a Symbian phone as their primary device. Of those who owned a smartphone, 40% (n=21) reported using at least one app related to their clinical work. The mean number of applications used by these users was 3.5. The majority (44/53, 83%) responded that they did not use their smartphone as a tool for managing patient appointments, while 9 out of the 53 (17%) responded positively. Over 80% of participants used their smartphone to take or receive a picture or a video from their patients for professional purposes.

Conclusion: This study found a high level of smartphone ownership and usage among medical Cypriot paediatricians, corroborating with previous literature for other specialties in other countries. Despite the benefits they offer, more rigorous validation practices regarding mobile medical apps need to be established to ensure they are used safely and appropriately.

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