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Managing Your Digital Identity
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Technologies on the Internet have evolved and are implemented at a rapid pace, largely to be the first to stake out a new “space.” Such pressures are understandable, as these companies strive to be innovators to create financial success and media recognition. In the early days of the Internet, its predecessor, the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network, was innovative with developing connectivity without the use of direct circuit connections.
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7/29/2010
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Virtual Assistants: Software to Enhance Your Practice
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It is highly unlikely that a private practice would use an online calendar such as Google Calendar1 to schedule appointments for the office. Although it is free and has options whereby Gmail users can share their calendars, it clearly lacks privacy features and the ability to set appointments.
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3/25/2010
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Your Mobile Office Upgraded: Anywhere and Anytime
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Lenovo announced a new “hybrid” notebook, the IdeaPad U1, which will be coming out in Summer 2010.2 What makes this notebook innovative and “hybrid” is that it is a full function notebook with a 3G multi-touch detachable screen.
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2/8/2010
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The Facebook Phenomenon: Boundaries and Controversies
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With the increasing use of the Internet by patients and providers alike, it is not unexpected that their online lives would someday intersect. Before the days of Internet search engines, patients knew little about their providers until the day they meet.
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11/5/2009
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Informatics Competencies for the Clinical Practice: Medical Information
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In today’s practice of health care, there has been increasing demand on healthcare providers to “keep up” with technology.
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8/4/2009
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Web Browsing: The Ultimate Medical Information Resource
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Today’s computers actually have more power and memory than most users need. Ten years ago, a high-end computer with the fastest processor, most memory, and large capacity hard drive would cost over $3,000, destined primarily for computer gamers and video editing.
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11/26/2008
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The New Mobile Office
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The ultramobile personal computer (UMPC) has not yet had the success imagined by its designers. Its small form factor, a screen from 4–7 inches diagonal, and weight of <2 pounds, make it more portable than a laptop. However, the first versions were underpowered with a slow central processing unit (CPU), which contributed to the UMPC’s lack of commercial success in today’s marketplace.
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7/29/2008
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Electronic Communication in the Digital Age
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E-mail has quickly become a preferential mechanism of communication today as evidenced by the growing numbers of smartphones, iPhones, and Blackberry communication devices used in both personal and work environments. Patients today are much more tech savvy, and have begun to rely upon health information on the Internet as well as utilize various Internet-based tools (eg, to assess themselves for depression, check their body mass index, and check their medications for drug interaction).
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5/28/2008
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Patient Education in the Internet Age
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Today’s patient has likely researched his or her condition on the Internet before even stepping into a doctor’s office for the first time. Some patients have even read articles from scientific journals and have asked physicians about their opinion on that type of treatment option.
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3/27/2008
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Telemedicine: Is It Time Now?
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Telemedicine is generally viewed as use of video conferencing in the delivery of health care. However, it encompasses the various technologies, including E-mail and the telephone, in creating a connection between the provider and patient.
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1/24/2008
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Physician Ratings Websites
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Consumers have help choosing products such as cars, dish washers, and stereos by reading newspaper and magazine reviews. Movie and book critics help consumers determine whether their time and money would be better spent before committing to potential hours of entertainment and intellectual stimulation.
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11/28/2007
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HIPAA-Proof Your Practice: From PDA to Your Office
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With the increasing dependence of medical practice on technology, and in particular how it facilitates the 24 hours, 7 days/week demands of the practice of medicine, it makes sense to have reliability, backup, and security of mobile devices and the desktop computer.
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9/24/2007
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Health 2.0: What You Need to Know
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The Internet is a vast array of information, Web sites, and Web pages interconnected by hypertext code to provide users with relevant information. The Pew Internet & American Life Project conducted a telephone survey in 2002 which determined that 80% of respondents have searched for health information on the Internet.
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7/26/2007
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Free Software Tools for the Medical Practice
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For many physicians who have completed training and decided to start a private practice, there may be overwhelming concern about the high cost of starting a practice. Rent, furniture, supplies, paging and answering services, computer equipment, and practice software are just a few of the upfront costs necessary to begin a medical practice.
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5/26/2007
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Virtual Reality Therapy:
On Your Desktop Today
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For many clinicians, the use of virtual reality in psychiatric practice better resembles a movie scene than their everyday experience. However, today’s computer hardware and software has sufficiently improved enough to create a virtual world in the typical office.
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3/27/2007
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Social Networking: Now Professionally Ready
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The Internet has become a vast network of information that offers users a sense of connectivity in addition to multi-media content. Chat rooms and discussion forums allow users to meet and form relationships. Ten years ago, people meeting Online might have been perceived as strange, but today, there are numerous Online sites dedicated to the process of finding a mate. In this manner, the social nature of the Internet has become the latest rage, with the increasing use of social-networking sites such as MySpace and Friendster, available not only for personal use but for professional networking as well.
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1/26/2007
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The Medical Evolution of Personal Digital Assistants
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Despite the debut of the first Palm Pilot personal digital assistant (PDA) in 1996, it has taken the medical community many years to adopt this technology into the workplace. Much of the increased utilization has been dependent upon the increased memory capacity, speed of the hardware, and improved software that addressed the limited screen size as well as access to information.
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12/27/2006
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New Technology for Your Practice
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The winter months are among the best times to purchase new hardware since many major manufacturers are gearing up for the holiday season. This new technology acquisition opportunity is often extended with traditional post-holiday sales in both online and retail stores. New hardware acquisitions not only fulfill holiday wishes, but provide a mechanism to increase productivity with faster computers or more mobility. This column highlights a few newly released notebook computers and other hardware to make an upgrade irresistible.
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11/29/2006
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Podcasting: The Next Frontier of Medical Information
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Last month’s “Tech Advisor” on mobile medical sources of information reviewed various methods on how to access, store, and retrieve text-based medical information. Multimedia podcasts are the next waves of healthcare information deliverables over the Internet. Many corporations, including IBM, General Motors, and Mutual Financial Group are using audio and video podcasts to deliver information internally to employees as well as externally to customers.
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10/27/2006
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Mobile Medical Sources: Medical Information Anytime and Anywhere
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On the Internet, medical information is one of the most frequently searched terms by consumers. Medical professionals have also turned to the Internet for access and delivery of information at various sources such as Pubmed. In the 1990s, information on the Internet had been primarily text based; however, with increasing availability of high-speed Internet via DSL and cable modem as well as faster and more powerful computers at lower cost, information on the Internet has become more multi-media based with video and audio.
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9/28/2006
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Computerized Medicine
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Computer-based decision support for electronic prescribing in a previous “Tech Advisor” column highlighted how computer guidelines and alerts improve electronic prescribing. Computer-based assessment and treatment expands the use of computers beyond assisting health professionals, into direct patient contact and care.
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8/30/2006
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Technology Adoption: Managing Change
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Even in a practice of only one physician, any change in the technology used in the office will have some impact due to adjustments needed to be made by the staff or problems due to connecting with and compatibility to other electronic systems. It may appear to be a simple process to implement a technological change such as an upgrade in the medical billing software or to add use of an electronic medical record, but this process can be more complex and frustrating.
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8/2/2006
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Radio Frequency Identification: Ready for Implementation Decision
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Decreasing medical errors has been a major cornerstone in the drive to improve the quality of healthcare. An Institute of Medicine report and The Leapfrog Group have both identified computer physician order entry as one way to decrease medication errors. However, this process reduces possible errors at the point of order generation and does not necessarily guarantee accuracy and validity at delivery. One of the new technologies to reduce delivery errors in healthcare is radio frequency identification.
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6/27/2006
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Electronic Prescribing Systems with Computer Decision Support
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Electronic prescribing (eRx) has been considered to be the savior for medication errors by creating a printed and legible prescription or an electronically transmitted one. With this innovation, the days of receiving phone calls from the pharmacy asking for clarification of whether the prescription says “Lamictal” or “Lamisil” will hopefully come to an end. However, the benefit of eRx is more than legible prescriptions and drug interaction checks. Decision support systems (DSS) provide much more information, such as whether the patient has another prescription in that drug class; appropriate renal, liver, or age dosing; and formulary availability. This column highlights the impact of DSS in the implementation of eRx systems.
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6/7/2006
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An Informatics Primer
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Information and technology are vital and integral to the practice of medicine. Medical informatics is a relatively new field at the interface of information technology and health care. Medical informatics is more than computer literacy in a healthcare setting. It is a discipline that understands the balance of technological and patient care issues.
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5/26/2006
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Computer Physician Order Entry: To Implement or Not?
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Given that illegible handwriting might be open to misinterpretation, hospital systems see CPOE (computer physician order entry) as a viable solution to reduce errors in prescriptions and medical orders. However, implementation of CPOE is not necessarily quick or easy.
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5/25/2006
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Electronic Health Information Exchange: Key Trends to Watch
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Electronic medical records (EMRs) provide a rich medium for improving health care, with the potential benefits of disease management, electronic prescribing, physician order entry, and interfacing with personal health records. Exchange of information is one of the key elements to making EMRs beneficial to patients across the healthcare spectrum, whether at the physician’s office, hospital, or pharmacy.
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4/27/2006
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Personal Health Records
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When new patients bring in reams of paper records to the psychiatrist, it is often seen as a diagnostic sign. However, there is some relief in finding information about previous diagnoses and treatment from past providers. Patients see personal health records as one way to ensure communication between their various healthcare providers, as well as serving as a repository of their health history.
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3/29/2006
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Electronic Medical Records
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This column reviews the historical development of medical records, discusses the advantages and disadvantages of computer-based record systems, and reviews features of electronic record systems.
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2/24/2006
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