Evolving role of the PHR and international health

Cardiac patients are often told to carry a photocopy of their latest EKG (or ECG) when they travel. This way, if they happen to suffer chest discomfort and if they end up in an emergency room, they can quickly provide a copy of their latest EKG so that clinicians can compare that EKG to the current EKG.

Given that more and more patients are now using a digital personal health record or PHR, will this mean that we can simply keep digital copies of studies like an EKG or chest X-ray on web-based PHRs? What if you end up in a remote hospital that lacks Internet access? What if the ER doesn’t allow you to sit in front of a computer to retrieve your medical records?

Paper is nice, but what happens if you lose that piece of paper? Future travelers will probably always carry a laptop, tablet, netbook, or some other mobile computing device (maybe even an iPad) so that they can keep copies of their latest vital medical records on these mobile devices.

The medical inaccuracies found in popular TV medical dramas

This story on CNN was rather interesting: Medical dramas give bad information about seizure treatment

I don't think anyone in the medical profession will deny that these television shows often grossly misrepresent medical treatment. Although shows like "Grey's Anatomy," House, M.D.," and "Private Practice," and "ER" may be entertaining, are they misleading consumers to the point of shaping consumer awareness regarding specific health conditions?

According to CNN: A new study found that seizure care in particular was depicted appropriately less than half the time on major fictional medical shows... The research will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's annual meeting in Toronto, Ontario, in April.

I'm eager to see if anyone will explore how these TV shows may be impacting patient behavior and self-management of specific conditions like hypertension and diabetes. 

ER (Emergency Room) advice from CNN

If you follow CNN, you'll probably see this article titled, "How to get help in a hurry in the ER." Did you know that the average total waiting time in a U.S. emergency room in 2008 was four hours and three minutes, a 27-minute increase in nationwide average wait times since 2002?

What would you do if your spouse had a life-threatening emergency and you needed to grab someone's attention in the emergency room? Get the perspective from 4 different ER docs:

• Dr. Assaad Sayah, chief of emergency medicine, Cambridge Health Alliance, Massachusetts
• Dr. Jesse Pines, assistant professor of emergency medicine, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
• Dr. Joseph Guarisco, chief of emergency services at Ochsner Health System, Louisiana
• Dr. David Beiser, assistant professor of medicine, University of Chicago

Click here to read this CNN article.