Stick Out Your Tongue!

I am lucky enough to share a co-working space with a woman who recently graduated from the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine. As a result, I get to be the beneficiary of health advice that lies beyond the parameters of traditional Western approaches. Rather than the anatomic or organ systems approaches I’m accustomed to, TCM’s approach is based on “the ancient Chinese perception of humans as microcosms of the larger, surrounding universe—interconnected with nature and subject to its forces. The human body is regarded as an organic entity in which the various organs, tissues, and other parts have distinct functions but are all interdependent. Health and disease relate to balance of the functions.” Searching for an analogy when reading this translation of the Classic Chinese Medicine text Huángdì Nèijīng, I think of an interactive weather map of the body. Turns out that TCM practices also rely heavily on maps of one kind of another.

One of the diagnostic foundations of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is tongue evaluation. This practice assesses a patient’s general energetic condition. Because the tongue is positioned somewhere between the interior and exterior of the body, it is particularly well suited to detect imbalances. Different areas of a patient’s tongue correspond to the different channels of the body. The color, texture, shape, and regions of the tongue are mapped and provide clues to diagnosis and therapeutic approach and progress. In addition, the tongue is also particularly well suited for photography in a clinical environment, provided the patient is a willing participant. A series of chronological photographs of the patient’s tongue can also provide a vivid picture of their clinical course and the effectiveness of therapies.

Once a diagnosis is made, TCM practitioners may use acupuncture to treat imbalances in the body. In acupuncture, small thin needles are placed in points along meridians of the body clear blockages and release “qi,” the body’s energy. Of the over 350 points along 12 major meridians of the body can also be best represented on a map of the human body. For an acupuncturist to track the points that they use in treatment, they typically record the point in a record by number. However, a visual map of a human body be a great addition to an acupuncture record and would likely be a more efficient means of recording and annotating these procedures.

TCM practice, along with a litany of other Western subspecialties can leverage files with annotation. This can be a valuable tool in developing a comprehensive and information-rich medical record. This can also be a valuable tool in the education of patients. DrChrono’s FreeDraw feature provides a seamless way to integrate images and annotate. But it’s up to the practitioner to find creative and efficient ways to use it.

Have you found a way to use FreeDraw that we should know about? Let us know.

Really Touching Data

Opened in 2006, the House of Sweden is a stunning contemporary building that houses both the Swedish and Icelandic Embassies in Washington DC’s Georgetown. The front of the building, comprised of a towering glass facade, provides visitors with a full-scale view of the clean lines of the interior architecture and the workings of the occupants. The four storey building was designed specifically to foster an atmosphere of positive and creative cooperation. The architects envisioned unusual features in an embassy — a combination of openness and transparency.

The building’s architectural elements translate into the technological approaches of Sweden more generally (i.e., their influence in the Open Source movement). Additionally, the spirit of the relationship between technology and medicine is captured beautifully in the Virtual Autopsy Project, an academic-industrial partnership that led to the development of a new commercialized product called the Sectra Visualization Table. In early 2010, the Embassy hosted an exhibit of home-grown technologies that I was lucky enough to see when I was biking around Georgetown and stopped in to check out the exhibit hall.

A dining room table-sized touch screen (basically a giant iPad) obscuring a giant CPU with plywood and tablecloths (this was a prototype) allowed users to interact in with 3-D images generated by CT and MRI scans. Developed at Sweden’s Center for Medical Science and Visualization, the table demonstrated how visualization can serve medical education, screening, and diagnostics.

While a rite of passage for a first-year medical student is a cadaver dissection, the availability of virtual cadavers may enhance opportunities for investigation and thankfully limit the time a student has to withstand the odor of formaldehyde in a dissection lab. The Swedish research team has also demonstrated the potential of touchscreen technologies in clinical care, especially in specialties like cardiology, neurology, surgery, orthopedics, and veterinary medicine. As touchscreen devices reach ubiquity in clinical medicine, there is a world of opportunity for developers of these tools and and expanding toolkits for their users.

Anders Ynnerman, one of the researchers who developed the table, in a recent TED Talk, gives a history of the Virtual Autopsy Table and samples some of the applications.

iPad Record Sales in Healthcare?

At every WWDC event that Apple holds, they announce sales numbers. This year Apple announced some amazing numbers. I wonder how many health professionals now have iPads around the world, the iPad truly is game changing. The numbers below are amazing.

25 Million iPads Sold

200 Million iOS Devices Sold

Stats on how many people are using iOS, 44% of people are using iOS in the mobile space

iPad 1 vs iPad 2 / Doctor Healthcare Use Cases

The iPad 2 performance is faster that the iPad 1. Factors that make it faster are that the iPad 2 has more RAM and a faster processor.

This speed difference can be seen in the Safari. Below is a video showing off the two iPads speeds via WiFi and their speed.

You can see here in this video that the iPad 2 loads apps about a second faster then the iPad 1.

Being a doctor, you don’t have much time, speed is of essence, so jump on board and get an iPad 2. i

Where and When to Buy an iPad 2 for EMR EHR

Getting an iPad 2 to for your medical practice at this point in time might be a bit of a challenge.

I hear the iPad 2 is shipping in four to five weeks. It might take over a month buying an iPad 2 to for it to show up at your front door. Yesterday, Apple noted that online orders for all iPad 2 models would take “four to five weeks” to ship.

March 11 was when the second generation iPad launched.

Providers and doctors have three ways to get it:

• You could buy the iPad 2 from an Apple Retail Store, good luck some have them some don’t. Call before you get in your car.
• Find an authorized Reseller, again it might be worth calling to see if they have them in stock.
• You could place an order via the Apple Online Store, just don’t expect to have it for around 4 weeks.

According to the site, The Loop, an Apple spokesman said sales were “amazing,” Meanwhile, an analyst believes up to 1,000,000 units of the second-generation iDevice might have already been sold.

Earlier today, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster put the number of units sold between 400,000 and 500,000.

According to Baird’s William Power, as quoted by Fortune, Apple has actually sold “roughly 1 million” iPad 2′s this past weekend.

Whatever the final number, the iPad 2 appears to be another winner for Apple.

All in all, it is the best tablet out, buy one for your medical practice, it is well worth it, just be patient.

Load us on as well for free.