One in five physicians likely to purchase Apple iPad - study

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  • Reply 161 of 184
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Dr Millmoss View Post


    Pardon me, but I was the one who was agreeing with you.



    Sorry...that wasn't a reply to you Dr M. I just hit the reply button...my bad.
  • Reply 162 of 184
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by tt92618 View Post


    Are you honestly under the impression that your patronizing responses and condescending tone somehow deserve something more from me?



    I'm sorry you and a few others here think I'm so mistaken in what I have said, here. I, in turn, think you collectively have demonstrated a significant perspective deficit, and I stand by what I said. I think any MD who honestly wants to assert that their discipline requires such sacrifice that they must set aside having friends, give up marriages, and essentially sacrifice having a personal life in virtually every aspect... well, I think that person is suffering from vocational hypochondria, or perhaps some form of transference. And if you consider such a perspective to be actually valid and you agree with it, so much so that you feel justified in attacking me for saying otherwise, then I just can't help you.



    What the hell are you talking about? Do you even know?
  • Reply 163 of 184
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by digitlnoize View Post


    Sorry...that wasn't a reply to you Dr M. I just hit the reply button...my bad.



    Not a problem -- I figured as much.



    Some people around here aren't happy unless they can raise a cat fight.
  • Reply 164 of 184
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by digitlnoize View Post




    Here is an excellent comparison of total career income of a UPS driver vs. a primary care Physician.



    http://www.er-doctor.com/doctor_income.html



    You will notice that the UPS driver has a higher net worth than the doctor from Post-High-School-Year 1 through 27. By year 27, they've evened out a bit.



    Unfortunately this chart assumes only $100,000 of education debt for the physician.



    It also neglects to factor in the interest of the student loans, as well as the income that could be earned by the UPS driver through real estate purchases, investing, 401k, etc during the time the doctor was in training.:



    almost 50% of the UPS drivers in my area have been laid off due to the economy, have you statistics for a comparison with Doctors?
  • Reply 165 of 184
    vineavinea Posts: 5,585member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by sippincider View Post


    More than 60 percent of physicians have a workstation within arm's reach, running the medical software they already need.



    While it'd be nice to see the iPad get part of the healthcare market, there's a reason physicians aren't using tablets already.



    They aren't? All the doctors I have run tablets. Except for my Johns Hopkins one amusingly. Probably because he's in the hospital and has a few workstations around. Most private practices around here seem to equip their doctors and staff with small convertible tablets.



    Quote:

    And lest we forget, the physicians who embraced Newton just might be a little leery at giving Apple a second chance.

    "What happens when Apple kills THIS platform?" is a legitimate concern.



    Not really. There's hardly any other example of Apple killing platforms.
  • Reply 166 of 184
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by skiracer1987 View Post


    almost 50% of the UPS drivers in my area have been laid off due to the economy, have you statistics for a comparison with Doctors?



    Not on me...hahaha. That article does point out the one big advantage that medicine has over other fields:



    Job Security



    People will always be sick.



    Actually what happens in medicine is kind of the opposite problem. Instead of firing people (which does happen too) older doctors simply delay retirement a few years, causing fewer job openings.



    Also, it is the only field I can think of where your pay can be CUT at the government's whim. For example, cardiologist pay is being sliced by 40%.



    Any of YOU take a 40% pay CUT in a year? Anyone? Absurd.
  • Reply 167 of 184
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by diamondgeeza View Post


    One San Francisco program, dubbed "Destination Bedside," aims to use tablets to provide X-rays, charts, prescriptions and notes to hospital workers at the touch of a finger.



    The ipad has an xray source?



    Oh yes, the xray source! Jobs forgot to mention that during the presentation.



    And if you spin two iPads around the patient you get a CT scan!



  • Reply 168 of 184
    the headline makes it sound like this was some serious research done by the AMA or such.



    it's not. look at the second paragraph. this was less than 500 folks asked.



    as for the various issues



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Mario View Post




    In any case, you can use one of the many free or very affordable remote desktop apps for iPhone/iPad to remotely access your windows desktop running your EMR software. This way iPad becomes light portable window/screen into your desktop.



    you mean such as

    http://www.mochasoft.dk/iphone_rdp.htm



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by sippincider View Post


    And lest we forget, the physicians who embraced Newton just might be a little leery at giving Apple a second chance.

    "What happens when Apple kills THIS platform?" is a legitimate concern.



    The newton was crap which is why it didn't sell and was killed off.



    the iphone has proven itself, the ipod touch as proven itself and so will the ipad.
  • Reply 169 of 184
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by charlituna View Post


    the headline makes it sound like this was some serious research done by the AMA or such.



    it's not. look at the second paragraph. this was less than 500 folks asked.



    Doesn't matter. As long as it was a true random sample of physicians then 500 is a MORE than valid number for a statistical sample.



    The study could be flawed if they only asked docs in a certain area...or in certain fields...or at a certain conference.



    More likely, it's a biased study because only physicians who responded to the survey were counted. If the survey was conducted through their iPhone App, then it would be heavily skewed towards more iPad buyers.



    It is very likely that many docs that didn't reply to the survey were NOT interested in the iPad.



    It also doesn't specify what the doctors plan to use the iPad for. Just because they're going to buy one doesn't mean they're going to use it for medical purposes. Maybe they just want one because it's cool.
  • Reply 170 of 184
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by digitlnoize View Post


    Doesn't matter. As long as it was a true random sample of physicians then 500 is a MORE than valid number for a statistical sample.



    The study could be flawed if they only asked docs in a certain area...or in certain fields...or at a certain conference.



    from the sounds of it, they only spoke to those already using their app. So it was more of a "hey so you use our software on your iphone, are you going to get an ipad cause we are thinking we might make a new version for that. if it is going to sell" than a legit survey



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by beefeater999 View Post


    The iSlate (sorry, the iPad!) might make work easier in some way



    in the case of medicine it could make it safer. For the patients. Over the years there have been many many horror stories of patients meds not being given on time, wrong doses cause someone couldn't read the handwriting, wrong drugs being sent, missed interactions. some of these issues are caused by the flood of information that doctors have to remember and sometimes recall on the spot.



    Hospitals are already looking into going paperless with everything typed and sent to a central database that sends out warnings and alerts to appropriate parties such as nurses (time for Mr Beefeater's meds), the pharmacy, the bloodbank. Even checking to see if there's an ICU bed, a surgery room (and doctors) could be done 'online'. Ideally the doctors would be able to access online drug dictionaries, calculate dosages and have warnings pop up that Mr Beefeater has taken drug X in the last 24 months (from his records in the database) and there could be serious interactions.
  • Reply 171 of 184
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by charlituna View Post


    from the sounds of it, they only spoke to those already using their app. So it was more of a "hey so you use our software on your iphone, are you going to get an ipad cause we are thinking we might make a new version for that. if it is going to sell" than a legit survey







    in the case of medicine it could make it safer. For the patients. Over the years there have been many many horror stories of patients meds not being given on time, wrong doses cause someone couldn't read the handwriting, wrong drugs being sent, missed interactions. some of these issues are caused by the flood of information that doctors have to remember and sometimes recall on the spot.



    Hospitals are already looking into going paperless with everything typed and sent to a central database that sends out warnings and alerts to appropriate parties such as nurses (time for Mr Beefeater's meds), the pharmacy, the bloodbank. Even checking to see if there's an ICU bed, a surgery room (and doctors) could be done 'online'. Ideally the doctors would be able to access online drug dictionaries, calculate dosages and have warnings pop up that Mr Beefeater has taken drug X in the last 24 months (from his records in the database) and there could be serious interactions.



    I agree. I'm a huge fan of EMR's...if they work. Currently, most of them suck and are stuck in 1995. If Steve Jobs really wants to make his mark on the world, he'd get Apple to make an EMR from scratch for the iPad Medical Edition.



    Critics of EMR's (and this is supported by research) that the system isn't perfect. For example, health workers (not just doctors write in charts, you know) often will Copy and Paste information from one part of the chart to another to save time without accurately proofreading the chart.



    Others say that the EMR gives you TOO much information at times, or makes you enter information that is not pertinent, although I count this as a system design flaw, not a flaw of EMR's in general.



    The ideal EMR should give you access to old patient records from any location (medical, pharmacy, dental, optometrist, etc). It should check your prescriptions for accuracy (dose, name, indication, contraindications, side effects, and drug interactions). It should allow for typing of information into fields that were previously handwritten. It should also allow handwritten notes. It should have the option to give you an algorithm of questions if you want or need it, but the doctor should not be forced to check through a thousand check boxes for a simple case of GERD. It should be able to be used as a patient education tool, while allowing easy access to other functions like the Web, medical calculators, x-rays, other patient charts, etc.



    My best case scenario is that EMR's move into something circa 2002.
  • Reply 172 of 184
    flounderflounder Posts: 2,674member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by charlituna View Post


    the headline makes it sound like this was some serious research done by the AMA or such.



    it's not. look at the second paragraph. this was less than 500 folks asked.



    I don't know what the methodology of the survey was, but 350 is not that small of a sample size. If the methodology was good, a sample size of 350 can give you a pretty good stats.
  • Reply 173 of 184
    jmmxjmmx Posts: 341member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by dagamer34 View Post


    ...



    There are maybe 800,000 doctors in the US. And you want me to believe a study that sampled 350 of them? And it's not even the SLIGHTEST bit random either. There's probably a strong bias to contact people who already OWN an iPhone and USE epocrates. And the only worthwhile version of Epocrates costs $150/year to use!



    You are making some assumptions here - that the survey was not random. How do you know? How do you know if they contacted only docs with iPhones and Epocrates SW? Is it possible that they actually did contact them randomly? Is it possible that they had an independent research firm perform the study?



    YOU are jumping to conclusions here (unless you have read the study in detail, I could not find it on Epocrates web site). What you say MAY be valid criticism - or it might be that you are talking through your hat.
  • Reply 174 of 184
    brucepbrucep Posts: 2,823member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jragosta View Post


    Sure it does. Leave your desktop running and use Go To My PC to access the desktop. You'll have access to your full desktop environment while you're making y



    That's one of the sillier arguments I've ever seen. The fact that not all data is on the computer affects the entire industry - not just slates. If you have data available on your computer, it's available to the iPad. Period. If it's not available on your computer, then the specs of the iPad are completely irrelevant



    came out wrong
  • Reply 175 of 184
    icyfogicyfog Posts: 338member
    The physcians' interest doesn't surprise me at all. What surprises me is that only 20 percent do.
  • Reply 176 of 184
    dfilerdfiler Posts: 3,420member
    One in five?



    Assuming that the polling was well executed, the characterization of the data seems incorrect. It would have been more accurate to say "one in five say that they are likely to purchase", with "say" being the important word.



    Eventually I can see tablets being a good computing form for doctors offices. But the software isn't going to be there immediately. Doctors won't actually buy one until software is offered for their needs.
  • Reply 177 of 184
    My two cents:



    Even assuming the methodology is good (which we don't know, and it damn well may not be), with only 350 people surveyed and conservatively estimating the population (of clinicians in the U.S.) at 800,000, this carries a 7 point confidence interval, meaning 13-27% are likely to buy. Uninspiring survey, if you ask me. epocrates likely only published it because medical adoption of the iPad would benefit them.



    Secondly, the iPad would be a great device for medical purposes. However, I don't think the surface of the OS necessarily lends itself well to secure, multi-user professional use, and extra hardware (like RFID and data transfer from medical equipment) would be huge for medicine as well. In this way, if Apple wants to be prominent in the hospital, they're going to have to work for it, specifically. Also, MacPractice has announced that they're developing for the iPad. That's good for private practice, but I don't imagine it's scalable to the enterprise level. Awful name, MacPractice. Looks a lot like "malpractice." I guess they didn't think that one out so well...



    I'm not a doctor; my dad's a specialist. Being a doctor is great money, but it's still earned every day. It's not like owning a business that can make money while you sleep or play golf. And anyone who says that medicine doesn't require sacrifice hasn't been the little kid who kept trying to throw his dad's pager away. Sure, I've enjoyed some serious financial advantages because of his income, and I'm thankful for that. But don't make the mistake of thinking money is the only resource that matters. In fact, your kids won't appreciate it until they're practically grown up. It's a lot to miss, and it's why I never considered medicine myself.
  • Reply 178 of 184
    Thanks for the perspective.



    As for the survey, it was a marketing study, not an opinion poll. Epocrates obviously released the results to get some free publicity for their products. I don't know what methodology they used, but people who have a fundamental problem with sampling as a valid statistical method, next time they have some blood drawn, should demand that they take all of it.
  • Reply 179 of 184
    dhkostadhkosta Posts: 150member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Dr Millmoss View Post


    Thanks for the perspective.



    As for the survey, it was a marketing study, not an opinion poll. Epocrates obviously released the results to get some free publicity for their products. I don't know what methodology they used, but people who have a fundamental problem with sampling as a valid statistical method, next time they have some blood drawn, should demand that they take all of it.



    Nobody's complaining that every doc in the country wasn't asked, and I'm an accountant; we sample. The argument is that sampling 350 people to represent a huge population produces a larger confidence interval than I would like to see. There's a big difference between 13 and 27%, and even 27% may not be terribly impressive, depending on the methodology. Of course you don't take all the blood, but you take enough to run the tests you need.
  • Reply 180 of 184
    backtomacbacktomac Posts: 4,579member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by digitlnoize View Post


    I agree. I'm a huge fan of EMR's...if they work. Currently, most of them suck and are stuck in 1995. .



    I agree. Most physicians I speak with aren't very happy with their EMRs. In fact when I was looking at EMRs few would recommend what they were using.



    Its one reason why I think Apple have an opportunity in health care. Most practitioners and hospitals may use Windows based systems but they suck for the most part and a good product could come in and take market share rapidly. Many wouldn't hesitate to turn away from what they currently use as most are pretty unhappy with what they have.



    The ideal product needs to be a combined EMR/billing package. I've seen products that try to do both and usually it's billing software that tries to integrate EMR functionality into the package. In these cases the EMR component usually isn't good enough.
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