California hospital plans to utilize 100 Apple iPads

Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
A California hospital plans to distribute more than 100 Apple iPads among its health care workers to allow them look at X-ray images, EKG results and more on the portable touchscreen device, according to a new report.



Nick Volosin, director of technical services at Kaweah Health Care District in Visalia, Calif., told Network World that he bought three iPads for testing, and plans to implement more than 100 at the facility in the next two months. Various patient monitoring programs will be accessed through Citrix virtual desktop and application delivery software. Using the Citrix Receiver, the hospital will be able to have its workers access desktop applications without writing proprietary software for the iPad.



The iPads will be distributed to home health care and hospice workers, nurses, dietitians and pharmacists. Because tight supply has forced Apple to turn down volume orders, the hospital had to work with Apple directly to make such a large purchase.



Volosin told author Jon Brodkin that the iPad and its 10-hour battery life will replace a laptop for many employees, particularly because it will eliminate the need to charge multiple times throughout the day, and it doesn't need to be turned on and off. In addition to patient-related services, employees will also be able to use the device to do traditional office tasks like check their e-mail.



Another selling point for the iPad: the price. Starting at $500 for the 16GB Wi-Fi model, Volosin reportedly said that it is a more affordable option when compared to a traditional touchscreen tablet, which can cost as much as $3,000.



In addition to Volosin's three test units, about 20 doctors have purchased their own iPads to use at the office. One kidney specialist said the device has made him more efficient and also improved patient safety.



Many hospitals have eyed Apple's iPad since the device was first announced earlier this year. Some health care workers believe tablet computers help doctors and nurses spend more time with patients. One San Francisco program dubbed "Destination Bedside" uses tablet computers to provide X-rays, charts, prescriptions and notes.



In February, one study found that one in five physicians intended to buy an iPad, just days after it was announced. Epocrates Inc.'s survey of more than 350 clinicians found that 9 percent would buy an iPad when it became available, while another 13 percent intend to buy one in the first year. Another 38 percent said they were interested in the iPad, but wanted more information before they would decide whether or not to purchase.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 72
    cgc0202cgc0202 Posts: 624member
    The biomedical field is one of the areas where the iPad portability can make a significant difference. One of the model discussed in the article combines a Citrix server-iPad ecosystem to capitalize on MS-centric applications already developed in the medical field. This need not be the case though. I hope more native Apps will be developed as well as a more robust Mac server.



    Add to this the ability to "expand" images would also be very useful. I wish the magnification could be almost infinite but it seems from my testing of the iPad that Apple has placed a maximum of the degree of "zoom in". This is actually very critical when examining biomedical images to find cancerous cells for example.



    Because of the larger screen, it would be possible to actually share the findings with the patient or interested parties.



    CGC
  • Reply 2 of 72
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by cgc0202 View Post


    The biomedical field is one of the areas where the iPad can make a significant difference,



    I agree, it is a massive market for Apple.
  • Reply 3 of 72
    anonymouseanonymouse Posts: 6,857member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    A California hospital plans to distribute more than 100 Apple iPads among its health care workers to allow them look at X-ray images, EKG results and more on the portable touchscreen device, according to a new report.



    ... Various patient monitoring programs will be accessed through Citrix virtual desktop and application delivery software. Using the Citrix Receiver, the hospital will be able to have its workers access desktop applications without writing proprietary software for the iPad.



    A good first step, but I imagine it won't be long before they realize that the costs of writing "proprietary software" are outweighed by the advantages. I think the iPad is going to be huge in health care.
  • Reply 4 of 72
    paxmanpaxman Posts: 4,729member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by cgc0202 View Post


    The biomedical field is one of the areas where the iPad can make a significant difference,



    Or - one of the 'first' areas...

    I can see it as perfect for any place where you see 'officials' carrying any kind of clip board or where some kind of hand-held assistant may be utilized. Hotels, restaurants and hospitality management, building site management and architects, warehousing inventory, tour guide-ing and art galleries... Nothing like the scope of the general medical field but nonetheless.
  • Reply 5 of 72
    For posts about how hospitals should use Flash for x-rays and diagnostic charts...and how the iPad is clearly a sub-standard mobile touch screen pad because it lacks the ability to run Flash for Medical Emergencies - which Adobe will provide export for from Flash CS19 - due sometime in 2025.
  • Reply 6 of 72
    caljomaccaljomac Posts: 122member
    Damn.....maybe they'll make an x-ray addon...
  • Reply 7 of 72
    cgc0202cgc0202 Posts: 624member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by paxman View Post


    Or - one of the 'first' areas...

    I can see it as perfect for any place where you see 'officials' carrying any kind of clip board or where some kind of hand-held assistant may be utilized. Hotels, restaurants and hospitality management, building site management and architects, warehousing inventory, tour guide-ing and art galleries... Nothing like the scope of the general medical field but nonetheless.



    Indeed, I was very excited about its potential (even before the product was just a rumor) that was why I was surprised why some of the early pundits can only view it as a large iPod Touch. This goes to show how narrow minded these pundits can be.



    One of my frieds, when she bought her iPhone wished the screen is larger. Now she got her wish. Imagine how much difference this -- especially with the "zoom in" capability -- could help those with sight impairments (which is an issue as people grow old, not only those who are going blind).



    I read a review (from a blind person) also about the efforts of Apple to expand the iPhone (and thus the iPad) further for those with sight impairment through conversion of print to audio.



    Apart from those you mentioned I am also very excited on how the iPad can make a difference in science and technology, expecially textbooks for these fields where images and audio-visuals and videos are very much in use. Imagine for example a time lapse images of the metamorphosis of insects; or the melting of glaciers (to illustrate global warming), changing forest ecosystems, etc.



    What you can impart through such audio-visuals can be more effective than the power of words.



    CGC
  • Reply 8 of 72
    aaarrrggghaaarrrgggh Posts: 1,609member
    Heard Kaiser was looking into them large scale as well. That's a little over 14,000 physicians...
  • Reply 9 of 72
    rnp1rnp1 Posts: 175member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by anonymouse View Post


    A good first step, but I imagine it won't be long before they realize that the costs of writing "proprietary software" are outweighed by the advantages. I think the iPad is going to be huge in health care.





    And thank God for that! If this is all this thing was for, it would be worth it. It is the perfect device and it may lead to universality in medicine, as was the WelchAllyn ophthalmoscope/otoscope that has been The tool for each graduating physician for generations. Every doctor used the same instrument, with easily replaceable, standard parts. This wasn't intended as monopolizing the industry, but rather a great idea from a family business that produced a life saving device which provided a uniformity among all the world's doctors. If every member of a staff of thousands of institutions uses the same tool, there is uniformity, lack of confusion and massive sharing of medical information. Such a tool as the WelchAllyn device would make critical, and often rushed medical help an easier task.

    Thank Steve for moving forward with Douglas Englebart's ideas. The iPad is a further realization of those 1945 created visions and now we have a life saving, practical use of those long dreamed ideas! Apple should do as WelchAllyn did-provide an iPad to every intern in medical school immediately.
  • Reply 10 of 72
    paulmjohnsonpaulmjohnson Posts: 1,380member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by anonymouse View Post


    A good first step, but I imagine it won't be long before they realize that the costs of writing "proprietary software" are outweighed by the advantages. I think the iPad is going to be huge in health care.



    I agree, but being able to get it going without having to write proprietary software is extremely useful, since it will help iPad get to the critical mass needed to make it worth software companies while to develop the native apps.
  • Reply 11 of 72
    dr millmossdr millmoss Posts: 5,403member
    Someone was posting here last week about using Citrix on the iPad in hospitals, and how excited the medical staff was about its potential to replace bulkier and more expensive Windows laptops. He was an IT guy in a hospital I think he said. Now, only days later -- it's happening. So you can learn something useful here after all!
  • Reply 12 of 72
    ajitmdajitmd Posts: 365member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Mark Fearing View Post


    For posts about how hospitals should use Flash for x-rays and diagnostic charts...and how the iPad is clearly a sub-standard mobile touch screen pad because it lacks the ability to run Flash for Medical Emergencies - which Adobe will provide export for from Flash CS19 - due sometime in 2025.



    Why would the iPad need Flash for imaging? X-rays, CT, MRI, images are static and do not need flash. Only cardiac echo, US are moving images and that can be done with MPEG or HTML5. Telemetry would be best done via real data transmission... and they are doing this with the iPhone already. Don't need Adobe... they are irrelevant in mobile.
  • Reply 13 of 72
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Appleinsider


    Using the Citrix Receiver, the hospital will be able to have its workers access desktop applications without writing proprietary software for the iPad.



    OMFG! It's an intermediary layer that ultimately produces sub-standard applications for the platform! Where is Steve Jobs when we need him? This application SHOULD BE BANNED immediately!
  • Reply 14 of 72
    cgc0202cgc0202 Posts: 624member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Mark Fearing View Post


    For posts about how hospitals should use Flash for x-rays and diagnostic charts...and how the iPad is clearly a sub-standard mobile touch screen pad because it lacks the ability to run Flash for Medical Emergencies - which Adobe will provide export for from Flash CS19 - due sometime in 2025.



    I am not sure about Flash, but I doubt that the original storage of images and other digitized information, especially in science and technology (biomedicine being a subset) use Flash. To convert them to Flash images would be counter productive -- very time consuming and very expensive.



    A single MRI scan of the brain, for example, involves thousands images of x-y-z "slices of the brain", to create a complete 3-D scan representations of the brain. A false color algorithm repreentation may then be applied by the software used to convert what are essentially black and white images -- to detect patterns. For example, blood flow, or drug concentration, or some other focus of the study.



    The result of the above are massive amounts of digital information stored in high capacity servers that are retrieved usually through desktop computers, for analysis -- including zoom ins and 3-D representations.



    The above is just one example. A great amount of biomedical data, and those in science and technology, are similarly digitized. Some require supercomputers to store the data gathered (e.g., weather patterns) and the analysis done.



    I doubt very much that such enormous amount of data are translated into Flash for viewing. As Ajit countered:



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AjitMD View Post


    Why would the iPad need Flash for imaging? X-rays, CT, MRI, images are static and do not need flash. Only cardiac echo, US are moving images and that can be done with MPEG or HTML5. Telemetry would be best done via real data transmission... and they are doing this with the iPhone already. Don't need Adobe... they are irrelevant in mobile.



    CGC
  • Reply 15 of 72
    dcrdcr Posts: 7member
    Can you use the touchscreen while wearing latex gloves?
  • Reply 16 of 72
    veblenveblen Posts: 201member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AjitMD View Post


    Why would the iPad need Flash for imaging? X-rays, CT, MRI, images are static and do not need flash. Only cardiac echo, US are moving images and that can be done with MPEG or HTML5. Telemetry would be best done via real data transmission... and they are doing this with the iPhone already. Don't need Adobe... they are irrelevant in mobile.



    The hospital will be delivering the applications using Citrix Receiver.



    http://www.citrix.com/English/ps2/pr...tentID=1864392



    The windows applications are delivered to the ipad from the Citrix Server. They'll be able to use Flash applications without issue on the ipad using Citrix Receiver. This application just works if you have the Citrix infrastructure, which many hospitals do.



    I had our hospitals citrix applications running in less than 5 minutes on my ipad.
  • Reply 17 of 72
    veblenveblen Posts: 201member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by dcr View Post


    Can you use the touchscreen while wearing latex gloves?



    Yes, the ipad works when you have latex gloves on. We tested it during our demo at my hospital.
  • Reply 18 of 72
    esummersesummers Posts: 953member
    Is Wifi allowed in hospitals? I guess it would generate less interference then GSM, but i would think they would be pretty strict about this.



    Not sure what they wanted it for, but Genentech has been asking Apple for a tablet for years. There is defiantly a lot of interest in touch screen products from medical companies. I'd guess that an iPad is pretty easy to sterilize (compared to a keyboard) though.
  • Reply 19 of 72
    veblenveblen Posts: 201member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by cgc0202 View Post


    I am not sure about Flash, but I doubt that the original storage of images and other digitized information, especially in science and technology (biomedicine being a subset) use Flash. To convert them to Flash images would be counter productive -- very time consuming and very expensive.



    A single MRI scan of the brain, for example, involves thousands images of x-y-z "slices of the brain", to create a complete 3-D scan representations of the brain. A false color algorithm repreentation may then be applied by the software used to convert what are essentially black and white images -- to detect patterns. For example, blood flow, or drug concentration, or some other focus of the study.



    The result of the above are massive amounts of digital information stored in high capacity servers that are retrieved usually through desktop computers, for analysis -- including zoom ins and 3-D representations.



    The above is just one example. A great amount of biomedical data, and those in science and technology, are similarly digitized. Some require supercomputers to store the data gathered (e.g., weather patterns) and the analysis done.



    I doubt very much that such enormous amount of data are translated into Flash for viewing. As Ajit countered:







    CGC



    If the imaging application runs on windows it can be delivered to the ipad using citrix if the hospital deploys or has deployed a citrix solution. All the processing occurs on the server side. The citrix receiver application is a thin client it connects to the server and allows for interaction with the application. The actual back end processing doesn't need to change.
  • Reply 20 of 72
    veblenveblen Posts: 201member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by esummers View Post


    Is Wifi allowed in hospitals? I guess it would generate less interference then GSM, but i would think they would be pretty strict about this.



    Most hospitals are using wireless applications on private networks right now. It's just a private wireless network at our hospital.
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