First iPhone application for medicine
I receive a lot of announcements of new medical products through various trade journals and email alerts. I read most of them, just to see what’s coming out of product pipelines of various medical products companies. Since I’m more of a technology person, I enjoy innovative devices that fill a need in the market. As I’ve said before, I think it’s critical that medical device and equipment companies bring products to the market that improve user ergonomics, reduce errors, and are easy-to-use.
So, I was pleasantly surprised to read a press release from AirStrip Technologies announcing a new mobile medical application for the iPhone. At first blush, it appears to be just a new iPhone application, but a further review of the technology and the product itself, makes it appear to be a fascinating product. AirStrip Technologies develops and markets software solutions that allow information to be transferred wirelessly to PDA devices, like the iPhone. The iPhone app just cleared by the FDA, allows the user to remotely and securely access real-time and historical waveform and numeric data via a wireless internet connection through the AirStrip OB™ software, which sits on the hospital or clinic’s server. It allows the iPhone user to receive data from several hospitals, so the obstetrician with several patients in different hospitals can real-time data on each of these patients.
Because the software client is on the iPhone, which has certain software design features that make it highly intuitive, the physician can easily receive and read data that they need. I want to contain my excitement about this product, but it’s difficult since I am convinced that software solutions to patient data transmission is critical to improved healthcare and reducing costs. And as an avowed capitalist, a market opportunity being serviced by a company like AirStrip Technologies is also quite intriguing.
Now, I wonder if some of the $19 billion available for the healthcare providers to upgrade their IT can be spent on this technology?
By Michael W Simpson
So, I was pleasantly surprised to read a press release from AirStrip Technologies announcing a new mobile medical application for the iPhone. At first blush, it appears to be just a new iPhone application, but a further review of the technology and the product itself, makes it appear to be a fascinating product. AirStrip Technologies develops and markets software solutions that allow information to be transferred wirelessly to PDA devices, like the iPhone. The iPhone app just cleared by the FDA, allows the user to remotely and securely access real-time and historical waveform and numeric data via a wireless internet connection through the AirStrip OB™ software, which sits on the hospital or clinic’s server. It allows the iPhone user to receive data from several hospitals, so the obstetrician with several patients in different hospitals can real-time data on each of these patients.
Because the software client is on the iPhone, which has certain software design features that make it highly intuitive, the physician can easily receive and read data that they need. I want to contain my excitement about this product, but it’s difficult since I am convinced that software solutions to patient data transmission is critical to improved healthcare and reducing costs. And as an avowed capitalist, a market opportunity being serviced by a company like AirStrip Technologies is also quite intriguing.
Now, I wonder if some of the $19 billion available for the healthcare providers to upgrade their IT can be spent on this technology?
By Michael W Simpson