physicians

When it comes to patient records, doctors guilty of the old copy-paste

Ah, the old copy/paste. Such a handy keyboard shortcut for such a wide range of applications. But would you want your doctor using it while maintaining your oh-so-personal and unique-to-you medical records?

Because chances are good that your doc does, according to new research out of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. Excuse me while I take a moment to summarize, rather than copy and paste, some key findings from the research.

Assistant professor of medicine and lead author Daryl Thornton and his team scrutinized 2,068 electronic patient progress reports at an ICU in Cleveland. Some 62 … Read more

Cell phones are replacing pagers in pediatric hospitals

Ah, pagers -- still beloved by a wide range of users, from physicians to restaurant hostesses to bird watchers to drug dealers.

And given the simple telecommunication tech has been around for more than half a century, it should come as no surprise that it is gradually being replaced -- at least in hospital settings -- by cell phones.

That's according to an electronic survey administered by researchers out of the University of Kansas and presented this week at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) National Conference and Exhibition in New Orleans.… Read more

Study: European doctors getting iPad fever

According to a new study by Manhattan Research, which surveyed more than 1,200 physicians across Europe, 26 percent of doctors claim they own an Apple iPad and spend more than 25 percent of their professional time using it.

Doctors in Italy, Germany, France, Spain, and the U.K. participated in the survey reported by PMLiVE, a medical industry blog (via AppleInsider).

As you can imagine, the top usage for the iPad was for Internet use, accounting for 27 percent of the doctors' Internet usage, beating out traditional cell phones and smartphones (18 percent) and falling short of desktops and … Read more

Study: Doctors choosing iPhone over BlackBerry

In 2006, Spyglass Consulting Group released a report, Trends in Mobile Communications, finding that 59 percent of physicians interviewed were using smartphones. Today, according to the firm's latest report, that figure has jumped to 94 percent.

"Physician smartphone adoption is occurring more rapidly than with members of the general public," said Gregg Malkary, managing director at Spyglass. Moreover, Malkary added, "Physicians are showing a clear preference [almost double] for using the Apple iPhone (44 percent) over the RIM BlackBerry (25 percent)."

A note of caution: the study's sample size is small. The "Point … Read more

Computer reminders help physicians less than hoped

A systematic review of 28 clinical trials, which appears today in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, finds that computer reminders to physicians regarding prescriptions yield smaller improvements than expected.

The study shows that computer reminders sent to physicians during routine electronic ordering or charting improve process of care by a median of 4.2 percent, with the best outcome showing a median improvement of 5.6 percent--numbers that are "below thresholds for clinically significant improvements," writes Dr. Kaveh G. Shojania, director of the University of Toronto's Centre for Patient Safety.

The authors conclude that further research should … Read more