iMeds Changes Healthcare Field

According to Ben Thompson, CEO of Proteus Biomedical, iMeds is going to be bigger than iTunes. That is a very bold statement to make with out any evidence of its efficacy in the actual patient population. It will be a very useful tool in helping show patient adherence, as well as the therapeutic effect of a medication, but to go as far as that statement is a little ambitious. As stated in my previous blog post, electronics is the best way to view patient adherence rather than go based on what the patient tells you or whats gathered by the clinician.

Right now they are testing the iMeds "Raisin" with hypertensive, heart failure, and tuberculosis patients. The Raisin actually runs on electricity produced by the patients stomach acid. The second part of the medication, the patch, actually detects the electric charge generated. The patch electronically records when the patient ingested the pill, as well as vital signs. After the patch detects these signs it sends the information electronically to the patients mobile phone and to the internet where caregivers can analyze it.

One problem that can be seen with this is that patients have to actually take their medication. A lot of medications actually forego getting picked up from the pharmacy do many reasons, including cost. Therefore, if patients don't pick up their medications due to cost, they will not want to pay for the additional cost of this "Raisin". This just leads back to the main intervention that should take place being pharmacists and MTM services to explain the importance of taking their medication and disease prevention. Even though there can be some fallbacks, overall this technology is very beneficial for the healthcare field.

http://mobihealthnews.com/5150/tedmed-imeds-will-be-bigger-than-itunes/

Patients' Untold Stories

Most healthcare professionals know that patients do not completely tell them the truth about adhering to their medication regimen. There are steps done to help patients become better with medication adherence. However, here is some evidence that shows even when patients seem to be truthful in communicating their adherence they are not telling the truth. Even when the healthcare professional tries to intervene and increase adherence for patients, the clinician reporting of adherence doesn't provide accurate measurement. The best way to measure adherence is through electronic monitoring. The following study came to find these results. As discussed in class, Proteus Biomedical has come out with a product to help perform this tasks of monitoring adherence called the Raisin ingestible drug sensors and monitoring system.

Here is the study: http://jerryfahrni.com/2011/10/accurate-assessment-of-adherence-man-vs-machine-abstract/

MTM breakthrough...

VitaDock system is a system for healthcare professionals to use and for patients themselves to use at home for self management of blood sugar, blood pressure, body weight and body temperature. It is known to be the first mobile connected thermometer. 


The iOS it has allows it to capture crucial data and separate the four different measuring modules. Not only keep data of all the above mentioned but it provides graphs and statistics. Whats even more cool about it is that more than one person (up to 4) has the ability to use the same device, which makes it more worthwhile for people to use if they are worried about the cost. The data that is captured on the device can be given to physicians or family members through email. I believe this makes it easier for physicians to keep track of their patients. Also, with the ability to provide the information to family members may put their minds at ease if they know their loved one is doing alright. This could be especially useful in the field of pharmacy to better provide MTM services before the patient even comes in. Pharmacists could be able to review the stats and data and know what to counsel the patient on before they even step foot through the door. The only thing i don't know is if it is available in the U.S. because it is sold through the German T-Mobile website.

http://medgadget.com/2011/10/vitadock-family-captures-vital-data-on-your-iphone-or-ipad.html

Vital Technology

"Philips has introduced a new patient monitor, the IntelliVue MX800, that provides common vital sign data, but that can also display information coming from any other hospital database."


This is ridiculous! This system allows health care professionals  to easily view patient data from electronic medical records, imaging studies and other clinical applications. This offers in helping to save clinicians time and aid in clinical decision making at the point of care. This allows for the earliest possible medical intervention. This is extremely important with the new medical insurance that will only provide reimbursement for a procedure/intervention if it is initial occurrence, they will not reimburse for the cost if the patient returns within 30 days from complications or same problems from the existing condition. 


Due to the fact this system uses the industry standard informatics platform it doesn't change the existing hospital environment. Therefore, this will be beneficial in preventing patients unnecessary returns to the hospital. 


http://medgadget.com/2010/10/philips_intellivue_mx800_brings_patient_data_to_one_screen.html

Making Healthcare a True Daily Double

   One of my favorite shows growing up and still to this day is Jeopardy. Back in February of 2011, top Jeopardy contestants were competing against a highly intelligent artificial intelligence computer software program from IBM. The program, Watson, turned out to be too much for the human contestants and beat them.
   From this ability to answer random trivia questions, difficult daily doubles, and final jeopardy questions IBM believes that this software could use its "talents" to benefit the healthcare industry. The software, Watson, would be able to revolutionize the healthcare industry by having the ability to quickly search through medical records, clinical documents, and research information for specific answers to help benefit both doctors and patients.
   Therefore, it can easily be seen how this software can revolutionize the healthcare industry. The possibilities are endless, but I am going to leave you with one thing related to the field of pharmacy. Someday patients medical records will be able to be accessed from a retail pharmacy, the day this becomes possible questions about the patient may be able to be answered in seconds using this software. This could help revolutionize the field of pharmacy and help promote our professions ability to efficiently manage medication therapy. 


http://medgadget.com/2011/02/ibm_watson_could_revolutionize_healthcare.html