SharePractice wants your doctor to have the best advice on the iPhone

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SharePractice, from physician Andrew Brandeis and his team, aims to connect physicians to each other and give them access to the best professional advice regarding conditions, treatments and symptoms.

Although he’s a full-time practitioner at San Francisco’s Care Practice community clinic, this isn’t Dr. Brandeis’s first go-round with mobile technology; he worked with iHealth on the rollout of the company’s iOS-powered blood pressure cuff in 2011. In his career, he’s formed the opinion that the difference between a good doctor and a great one isn’t access to medical information; it’s access to experience, the implicit knowledge of thousands of patients and hours of work that helps inform better treatment decisions.

Given that most doctors don’t have quick, “send a text” or “catch up in the hallway” access to the top experts in every therapeutic area, the question is how to get the power of that experience out to a larger community of physicians? The SharePractice app is one approach to solving that problem. It allows Yelp-style commenting and voting, but instead of restaurants and retail establishments, the topic of conversation is drug dosage, standards of care and best practices when dealing with a specific symptom or disease.

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Study shows opioid converting medical apps lack consistency

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In a recent study in Drug Safety by Haffey et al, the authors evaluated the accuracy and reliability of opioid conversion apps.

The authors identified apps across six mobile app stores during the month of February 2012, using search terms including: opioid, morphine, medical calculator, and conversions. Twenty-six apps were identified meeting the search criteria, with three subsequently excluded. Of the 23 apps identified, only 5 (22%) had the involvement of a named practitioner in the development of the app. Additionally, only 11 (48%) referenced their opioid conversion methods from journals, guidelines, or textbooks.

See on www.imedicalapps.com

How Are Physicians Using Smartphones for Professional Purposes?

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The Kantar Media Sources & Interactions Study, March 2013 – Medical/Surgical Edition found that almost three-quarters (74%) of the physicians surveyed use a smartphone for professional purposes, a 9% increase year-over-year. Further, more than one-third (38%) use both a smartphone and a tablet for professional purposes.

When looking at all physicians surveyed, about 43% say they use their smartphones to reference drug data – a 13% year-over-year increase– and 39% find/perform clinical calculations, up from 35% in 2012. The study also found that 31% of all doctors make prescribing decisions by smartphone, a 10% increase year-over-year.

See on www.kantarmedia-healthcare.com