International #mHealth Perspectives

Today was the first day of the 2nd International mHealth Networking Conference. It's been a full day of presentations and discussions about mobile health. As a physician champion for the HCPLive Network, I'm excited to blog about some of the highlights from this meeting. You can also follow updates about the mHealth Networking Conference on HCPLive.com.

This afternoon, there was a presentation focusing on international perspectives on mHealth. The presentation was titled, "The Most Advanced Hospital in the World? Report from Severance Cardiovascular Hospital in Korea" by Byung-Chul Chang, MD. This hospital is part of the Yonsei University Health System (YUHS).  Dr. Chang spoke about the digital infrastructure that's found in their hospital. He showed a marketing video that demonstrates how doctors in their hospital are using mobile PCs, smartphones, RFID, and other technologies. I love the idea of an automatic payment system that leverages a card (similar to a credit card) and an ATM-like machine in the hospital lobby.

Some of their employees who depend heavily on mobile resources are their home health nurses who are equipped with mobile computers as they visit patients in their homes. Severance Hospital is also leveraging clinical decision support to reduce medical errors and improve medical care. They found that structured data entry improved nursing documentation compared to free text typing. They also found more challenges associated with the use of tablet PCs so they're mainly using computers on wheels and standard laptops. They're leveraging the latest smartphones running iOS (Apple iPhone) and Android (Samsung Galaxy S). In Korea, smartphone adoption seems to be increasing at higher rates compared to the rest of the world.

I want to thank Epocrates for sponsoring these blog posts from the 2nd International mHealth Networking Conference. Epocrates, Inc. develops clinical information and decision support tools that enable healthcare professionals to find answers more quickly and confidently at the point of care.