Tag: DOCTOR

A group of grad students has come up with a way to instantly diagnose malaria, using only a smartphone and some fancy software. The team, comprised of students from around the nation, developed the prototype using a Samsung Focus smartphone, running Windows 7. After adding a microscopic camera lens to the phone, the students developed software capable of analyzing and scanning blood for ...

Having a snake burrow its way through your chest doesn't sound like a terribly enjoyable experience, but that's exactly what the Cardio Arm is designed to do to patients undergoing heart surgery. Created by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, the Cardio Arm is a snake-like robot capable of entering a patient's chest through a three-quarter inch incision in the solar plexus. The snake and ...

President Obama has devoted up to $27 billion in federal funds to digitize health records at hospitals across the country, but a new study suggests that he probably shouldn't bother. In the nationwide study, a team of researchers from Stanford University analyzed data from more than 250,000 patient visits between 2005 and 2007. According to their findings, digital record-keeping systems didn't ...

Today, a cardiologist in England will attempt to become the world's first doctor to execute a heart operation via a remotely controlled robotic arm and advanced 3-D mapping technology. The doctor, André Ng, is scheduled to perform an operation to correct an irregular heart rhythm, called atrial fibrillation (AF), in a 63-year-old man. To pull off the feat, he'll be using the Amigo ...

Doctors at McGill University Health Center in Montreal have performed the first ever robot-assisted surgery on a patient, without any direct doctor-to-patient contact. Of course, robotic surgery isn't a new approach in medicine, and, no, these 'bots aren't autonomous. Dr. Thomas Hemmerling and Dr. Armin Aprikian controlled robots named McSleepy and DaVinci, as they administered anesthesia and ...

We all know that we can't trust everything we read on the Web, yet when many of us get sick, we still tend to seek medical advice online before consulting doctors or health care professionals. Although some online sources do offer valid, fact-based advice, others can often misinform and mislead curious web surfers, who may suffer severe health consequences as a result. Rhys Morgan, a 15-year-old ...

Back in January, President Obama outlined a five-year plan in which all of the country's medical records would be digitized. By streamlining and introducing electronic standards to health data, mistakes like duplicate tests could be avoided. But, considering that only "20 percent of doctors and 10 percent of hospitals use even basic electronic health records," -- according to Kathleen Sebelius, ...

Whereas traditional therapist-patient relationships have always been restricted to the four walls of a shrink's office, doctors and patients alike have begun taking their camaraderie online. And, as the L.A. Times reports, the trend has raised the eyebrows of many medical ethicists, most of whom consider Facebook friendships or investigative Google searches a direct violation of the doctor-patient ...

We've seen a slew of medical apps hit the mobile market lately, and the proliferation of those apps has raised concerns among some that there is not enough oversight with this newly available tech. There are over 1,500 apps available for health care professionals; Manhattan Research estimates that, by 2012, 81-percent of doctors will have smartphones, potentially with medical apps installed. As ...

According to CNET News, a study appearing today in the Canadian Medical Association Journal claims that computer reminders, which doctors use while electronically charting and writing prescriptions for patients, don't improve the quality of health care as much as they were once expected to do. In 2008, Medicare even offered incentives for doctors to adopt and use e-prescriptions, but according to ...

The Internet has put a wealth of health and medical information at our fingertips. Of course, the danger is that users will begin to turn to the Web for a diagnosis instead of to their physicians. But a recent study shows that all the digital noise is leading people to trust their doctors more than ever. A survey conducted by the U.S. National Cancer Institute reveals that, while patients may ...

The biggest obstacle in treating chronic health conditions would seem to be a simple one: getting patients to consistently take their medication. A new invention could effectively serve as a constant reminder to the patient. According to The Wall Street Journal, a St. Louis company will begin a small test trial next month of a high-tech pill bottle cap that emits light and sound in order to ...

Share It's only been a couple of weeks since Steve Jobs revealed the iPad to the world and the naysayers are crawling out of the woodwork. But it's not a bunch of nerds that are criticizing the new tablet's features. Rather, it's scientists who say the iPad could be hazardous to your health. According to Live Science, the iPad's design (and that of some other mobile devices) encourages users ...

Nobody likes the long waits and crowded waiting rooms that plague hospitals and doctor's offices. But what if you could ask a group of doctors a question and get instant feedback without ever stepping into an office? A San Francisco company sees it as a reality and a way to change the way we get treated when we're sick. According to The New York Times, for a fee, Truth on Call sends your question ...

What does that cough say about you? Well, a lot. After all, each one is unique (wet or dry, productive or non-productive). Instead of waiting hours at a doctor's office to find out what this common symptom means, a group of researchers want to use the cell phone to get a quicker diagnosis. According to Discovery News, a new mobile technology could allow people to forgo a visit to the doctor's ...