Author: Laura Gater
Apple’s iPods, portable MP3 players with hard disk storage, are popular among people of all ages for listening to music while exercising or commuting. The most powerful iPods have 60 gigabytes (GB) of storage, which enable them to download and store thousands of songs. Not only does this storage capability excite leisure users of iPod, but this mobile device may have applications in other areas. The medical community is looking at it as well. iPods are no longer just for listening to music.
Medical students are using iPods to store lectures so they can listen to them later. Physicians are using them to display and manipulate images, and the iChat capability on iPods can be used to instantly communicate with each other (about the images).
“Up to a few years ago, storage was very expensive for mobile devices,” says Gregory Quinn, Ph.D., leader of the Mobile Data Visualization Group, San Diego Supercomputer Center, University of California San Diego (UCSD), who is researching the potential of mobile device visualization, along with C. Michael Wright, MD, FACC, LifeScore Clinic, La Jolla, CA. “The hardware coming down the pipeline which contains graphics accelerators is very impressive. Mobile devices are coming to market with micro-drives, primarily intended for MP3 storage, but potentially providing a repository for storing large amounts of data.”
The iPod device is convenient for physicians, since it weighs 5.5 ounces and is very portable. It also has a 2.5 inch color display, which is ideal for viewing images. Once the images are on the iPod, they can be carried to another computer, as long as it is a Macintosh. OsiriX software automatically recognizes and searches for any images that physicians have stored on their iPods, and when images are detected, they will appear on a list of available image data, just as music files are displayed. The more powerful iPods have more storage capability than some laptop computers, and it makes sense to utilize them for image sharing and storage.
“The iPod integration is a perfect example of how our software takes advantage of ‘disruptive’ technologies that come from the consumer market and can greatly benefit the professionals and the medical community in particular,” explains Osman Ratib, professor and chief of nuclear medicine at the University Hospital of Geneva, one of the developers of OsiriX. “It is part of other tools such as iChat, used for remote consultations and conferencing; .Mac, used for online data storage; and Bonjour, used for peer-to-peer sharing of images and data. We took advantage of all these new technologies that Apple has embedded in their system. The main revolution that OsiriX brings is the ability to display and manipulate complex medical images in 3D, 4D and 5D in a user friendly, simple and accessible way for physicians who are not necessarily computer experts. These features are only available so far on high-end, very expensive workstations that were only available to specialists and academic centers. It is like in the video editing world when tools such as iMovie and iDVD suddenly allowed everybody to edit and create their own movies in a way that is similar to complex video editing of professionals.”
Today’s medical practice relies heavily on images and image data for decision making and for patient management, according to Ratib.
The OsiriX software was designed to conveniently integrate the iPod every time it is connected and allows for easy display and manipulation of the list of images that are on the iPod in a similar way to the management of music files in iTune, according to Ratib, the advantage being that it is a very convenient way to save and carry data sets when physicians need to transfer patient data from one location to another.
“It is certainly faster and more convenient that having to burn the data on a CD or DVD or to have to transfer data through complex protected networks. Furthermore, with the recent generations of iPod it is also possible to set OsiriX to store the images in a format that can also be displayed on the screen of the iPod itself or on a larger screen or projector that the iPod could be connected to. This does certainly not have the quality required for diagnostic purpose, but is convenient for rapid review or presentation of some key images for discussion of a case or for teaching purposes,” explains Ratib.
The iPod has many more potential uses with the recent adjunction of video streaming and ability to download multimedia files and connect to podcasts.
Security concerns are moot. According to Ratib, the software enables physicians to delete the patient’s personal information from an image file.
Educational uses for iPods
Medical students are also using their iPods to listen to conference lectures that they have purchased, and to listen to medical course review material that they have purchased on CDs and downloaded to their iPods.
“I’ve used iPods for instructional purposes since last summer with my nursing informatics students. I deployed them and then had a student do a small pilot study last fall to test whether students preferred their online lectures via a) streaming audio(Flash) on the web, b) podcast, or c) plain old printed slides with notes. The students mostly seemed to like the Flash versions better so that they had audio and images at the same time. With the podcasting, they only heard audio and used printed slides for note-taking. I have also mailed the iPod to remote guest faculty who used it to record audio for their lectures and then sent the iPod back to me so I could compile everything. This wasn’t always smooth but it worked fairly well most of the time. I’ve tried it with audio memos to students but they seem just as happy with text versions which are still easier to transmit,” explains Linda Goodwin, RN, BC, PhD, director, Nursing Informatics Program, Duke University School of Nursing, Durham, NC.
Information technology is on its way to improving patient safety, even through the use of iPods, which promote instant communication and file sharing. Advances in the health information technology field can only promote patient safety and privacy efforts.
© Copyright, peoplemenders.com Inc., 2009. All Rights Reserved.
About the Author
Laura's writing specialties are medical, health and business topics.
Just a few of her published writings: Medical Imaging, 24x7, Podiatry Management, Strategic Healthcare Marketing, Advance for Imaging & Radiation Therapy Professionals, Podiatry Management, RT (Respiratory Therapy),Corrections Forum, Radiologic Technology, For the Record, Plastic Surgery Products, Orthodontic Products, Chiropractic Products, Podiatric Products, and The American Journal of Managed Care (supplement on NSAIDs).
Laura is also the temporary medical producer for several websites, writing news briefs. She has also done healthcare research and reports, provided public relations for several non-profit organizations and taught freelance writing classes.
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