iPad healthcare being adopted

The healthcare sector is among the top three industries seeing the heaviest adoption of the iPad for business use, according to data from Good Technology, a Redwood City-based provider of multiplatform enterprise mobility, reports WisTechnology.

The data comes from an analysis of Good Technology's user base, which includes more than 4 000 enterprise customers, whose iPad deployments range from one to more than 1 000 iPads.

"We took a close look at our customers who have deployed iPad devices so far," says John Herrema, senior vice-president of corporate strategy at Good Technology. "We found that the financial services sector dominated, accounting for 36% of Good's iPad activations to date. The technology sector came in second at 11%, followed closely by healthcare at 10%. We believe these industries are embracing the iPad because its unique design makes it easier to perform time-sensitive, mission-critical tasks."

Smartphone apps are set to become the main health care product as a research report projects that some 500 million people will be using them within five years, says Computerworld.

According to the Global Mobile Health Market Report 2010 to 2015 compiled by research2guidance, more than a third of 1.4 billion smartphone users in 2015 will be running some kind of mobile healthcare application. Mobile health (mHealth) applications allow doctors to monitor patients, no matter where they are, in real time.

Ralf-Gordon Jahns, head of research at research2guidance, says while the potential benefits of mobile health applications have been widely discussed for more than a decade, the market is only now ready to take off.

Pen Bay Medical Centre has recently implemented a system to administer patient medications using barcode-scanning technology, writes Village Soup.

Using a handheld non-laser digital imager, a hospital caregiver will scan the patient's ID bracelet and medication(s). Bedside computers will verify that the ID bracelet information matches the medications the physician has ordered for that patient.

"Our Bedside Medication Verification process is another example of the importance that Pen Bay places on safe, quality patient care," says Paula Delahanty, vice-president for nursing at Pen Bay Healthcare.