Have you ever wanted to calculate the predicted peak flow for one of your asthmatic patients without spending valuable minutes searching for that confounded little slide rule gizmo? Wouldn’t it be great if you could somehow remember all Mrs. Jones’ medications when the nursing home calls to see if it’s OK to treat her acutely elevated blood pressure with some atenolol? Handheld computers are emerging as the stethoscopes of the twenty-first century, and no clinician should be without this essential tool. These small, easy-to-use devices are now powerful enough to help clinicians manage information and make medical decisions at the point of care. This comprehensive how-to guide targets all levels of handheld computer users, from novices to experts, and demonstrates how to make the most of handheld computers in any medical practice. Designed with easy-to-understand, hands-on exercises for each new skill presented, this book begins with choosing a handheld and "getting to know" your new device. It then progresses through downloading and installing software, using charge capture and e-prescription programs, Internet and evidence-based resources for your device, designing and programming your own programs, and going wireless. Written by three experienced family medicine clinicians, Handhelds in Medicine is designed to improve every day practice for any busy health professional. There are chapters written for and by nearly every health professional, including nurses, physician assistants and speech pathologists. Reviews of handheld devices and websites will be kept current at www.handheldsinmedicine.com

A comprehensive guide to choosing, buying and using a PDA in the clinical health-care setting.

The essential guide by one of America's leading doctors to how digital technology enables all of us to take charge of our health A trip to the doctor is almost a guarantee of misery. You'll make an appointment months in advance. You'll probably wait for several hours until you hear "the doctor will see you now"-but only for fifteen minutes! Then you'll wait even longer for lab tests, the results of which you'll likely never see, unless they indicate further (and more invasive) tests, most of which will probably prove unnecessary (much like physicals themselves). And your bill will be astronomical. In The Patient Will See You Now, Eric Topol, one of the nation's top physicians, shows why medicine does not have to be that way. Instead, you could use your smartphone to get rapid test results from one drop of blood, monitor your vital signs both day and night, and use an artificially intelligent algorithm to receive a diagnosis without having to see a doctor, all at a small fraction of the cost imposed by our modern healthcare system. The change is powered by what Topol calls medicine's "Gutenberg moment." Much as the printing press took learning out of the hands of a priestly class, the mobile internet is doing the same for medicine, giving us unprecedented control over our healthcare. With smartphones in hand, we are no longer beholden to an impersonal and paternalistic system in which "doctor knows best." Medicine has been digitized, Topol argues; now it will be democratized. Computers will replace physicians for many diagnostic tasks, citizen science will give rise to citizen medicine, and enormous data sets will give us new means to attack conditions that have long been incurable. Massive, open, online medicine, where diagnostics are done by Facebook-like comparisons of medical profiles, will enable real-time, real-world research on massive populations. There's no doubt the path forward will be complicated: the medical establishment will resist these changes, and digitized medicine inevitably raises serious issues surrounding privacy. Nevertheless, the result-better, cheaper, and more human health care-will be worth it. Provocative and engrossing, The Patient Will See You Now is essential reading for anyone who thinks they deserve better health care. That is, for all of us.

This is the first book to address the uses of handheld computers within clinical practice and considers the many different possible applications of handheld computers in a medical environment. The book champions the idea that handheld computers have a significant role to play in the future of clinical practice. It shows why and how these devices can help reduce paperwork, and how to use the technology without waiting for the IT department's latest expensive, complicated and overdue solution. The book is in three sections: Explains that handhelds, far from futuristic gadgets, are today's technology benefiting clinicians around the world. The ten chapters guide the user through all possible applications of these machines. Looks at three teams that put the handhelds to different clinical uses. Explains the tools and techniques that are useful in introducing the technology to a group. If you work in hospital or community medicine, you can take advantage of technology that is affordable, powerful, easy and effective. Handheld computers can be used for education, administration and clinical practice, and in association with colleagues to support communication and teamwork.

This atlas comprehensively covers the use of basic ultrasound (US) scanning technologies to recognize both normal and pathologic states. It covers how to use US for soft tissue diagnosis, assessing cardiac function, pericardial effusion, tamponade, peripheral veins, gallbladder, bowel, kidneys, skull, sinuses, eye, pleura, scrotum and testes. Atlas of Handheld Ultrasound provides detailed clinically relevant examples of how US can be used to aid diagnosis across a wide range of medical disciplines. Chapters are formatted in a clear and easy-to-follow format, with a range of interactive material to aid the reader in developing a deep understanding of how to use and interpret US correctly. It therefore provides a critical resource on how to use the modality for both specialist and non-specialist practitioners.

"This multiple-volume publication advances the emergent field of mobile computing offering research on approaches, observations and models pertaining to mobile devices and wireless communications from over 400 leading researchers"--Provided by publisher.

"This reference book brings together various perspectives on the usage and application of mobile technologies and networks in global business"--Provided by publisher.