We were back Saturday at sunny Stanford University for another day of Med 2.0! The day was chock full of panel discussions, talks, and demo sessions. In fact, there’s so much going on that we’ve solicited help from our faithful Medgadget readers and Twitter followers. Thanks!
We take mobile technology for granted here in the U.S. and other developed countries, but even in poorer, third-world countries, cell phone technology is more ubiquitous than we might think. One panel we sat in on talked about how to leverage this technology to improve healthcare in developing countries. One project, Medic Mobile, utilizes cell phone infrastructure and computers to create a text message based service that allows healthcare workers to provide emergency care in a timely fashion, kind of like a rural 911 emergency line. Another project discussed was m-maji, a program that utilizes mobile phones to educate rural communities about and improve access to clean water. A third project seeks to provide better training to healthcare workers through phone-based learning simulations.
Another panel we attended discussed the role of the Internet and social media in continuing medical education. While social media can be a powerful tool, many physicians have mixed feelings on what social media technologies are meaningful to them. Moreover, many physicians feel that social media is still seen as a personal tool, and they hesitate to mix their personal life with their professional life.
We also got to learn more about the iBGStar from Sanofi-aventis that we covered last fall. The IBGStar claims to be the world’s first glucose monitor that interfaces seamlessly with the iPhone and iPod Touch.
During the afternoon, we also had the opportunity to tour one of Stanford’s medical simulation labs. Featuring cutting-edge simulation technology and instructional tools, the lab allows students to learn medical skills in an environment that is similar to real-life cases, but without the risk of misdiagnosing and mistreating real patients. Be sure to take a look at our post about what we saw on the tour.
If you haven’t done so already, be sure to take a look at our coverage of the previous day at Medicine 2.0 Summit.