Doctors: Here’s another reason for switching over to electronic health records (EHRs). You’ll get sued less. According to Reuters Health, doctors who use EHRs are less likely to get sued than their colleagues who use traditional paper records, a new Massachusetts study found. The technology, part of President Barack Obama’s effort to reform healthcare to make it more responsive and save costs, has been adopted by a number of physicians and other providers.
It sounds too good to be true, but a new retinal implant could help the blind recognize faces, watch TV and read, according to Popular Science reports. Nano Retina’s Bio-Retina captures images directly in the eye, and a rechargeable, battery-powered mini laser makes the implant work remotely. They may look like ordinary glasses, but the blind will be helped by a battery and a laser apparatus to deliver power, inside. (The glasses also help with nearsightedness and astigmatism, with their working lenses.)
Sano Intelligence, a part of Rock Health’s group of health start-ups in San Francisco, is working on a transdermal patch that can wirelessly monitor the bloodstream. According to an article featured in smartplanet.com, “Sano continuously assesses basic metabolic functions, looking out for any abnormalities and alerting a doctor with any concerning results.” The patch may soon be able to measure glucose and potassium levels, kidney function and electrolyte balance, according to Korones.
What’s been in the news for a long time has been the lack of jobs in our nation, but if you’re an IT worker and want to work in healthcare, there are more jobs than takers.
Educators say training programs are not keeping up with the demand for information technology workers with expertise in medical data, according to a story by Jackie Crosby.
"There's a major skills gap right now," Ryan Sandefer of the College of St. Scholastica, a private school that offers Minnesota’s only four-year and master's degree programs in the fast-growing field, told Crosby. "There's just tons and tons of data. The problem is, there's not a whole lot of people with the technical expertise in how to build the systems correctly or how to use the data accurately."
Last time you were in the doctor’s office, how many people were on their smartphones? About half, I bet. What were they doing? Sixty-one percent e-mail; 49 percent texting; and 47 percent using the Internet, most likely, according to a Blue Chip Patient Recruitment (BCPR) mHealth study. So why would doctors care? The survey found that here’s an excellent opportunity to engage patients with clinical information, and possibly, engaging them in trials. “As patients' comfort levels with computing functions grow, so will the opportunities to deliver clinical trial messaging,” a company statement explained.
