BenZipkin.com

via cambridgebmg.com

Conditions and symptoms dominate online health searches… Read more at http://tinyurl.com/ylc29cv

Posted via web from bzipkin’s posterous

Kudos to my friends and colleagues at Cambridge BioMarketing Group on the launch of their awesome new web presence.

Cambridge BioMarketing is an integrated communications agency serving clients in the healthcare, pharmaceutical, biotech, and life sciences industries.

Check out the Legends of Pharmaceutical Advertising campaign–help bid a fond farewell to hall-of-famers like “The Empty Suit” and the “The Final Tchotchke”…

District 9 is a fantastic science fiction movie set in an alternative future where a group of alien refugees have settled in South Africa. Unlike most alien invasion films, the aliens in District 9 are treated as outcasts, put into concentration camps, and experimented on by corporations hoping to mine their weapons technology for financial gain.

Science and technology play a big part in the film, and while scientists and corporations are clearly the antagonists, the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) has launched an interesting blog that focuses on the real-life science behind film. District9facts.com offers some loose blog posts, answers questions about the film, and attempts to connect the science of D-9 to the promise of the biotechnology industry.

BIO also maintains a similar site with the same focus for the Eleventh Hour TV show: eleventhhourfacts.com.

Even though scientists and corporations are usually cast as “the baddies” in science fiction movies, it’s interesting to see biotech industry groups leveraging their popularity to promise the promise of science. The EleventhHourFacts.com site provides a scientific fact guide for every episode—providing real-life information on topics ranging from cloning to biosafety to fashion-induced violence.

The biotech and pharmaceutical industries face a number of complex public relations problems. While very few industries hold as much promise for our future, general public fear, perceived corporate greed, and the nefarious nature of new science lead to them being portrayed as bad guys (in movies and in real-life). I think it’s interesting and smart for industry groups to look to Hollywood as a new platform to get the real messages out there in an engaging and light-hearted way.

Current research indicates that nearly 70% of physicians use a PDA or smartphone.

Check out this quick presentation on mobile applications developed by the team at RDVO:

Manhattan Research recently released a new report that highlights the role that search plays in online healthcare.

Some interesting highlights:

• Consumers who visit product sites are nearly three times more likely than the average US adult to request prescriptions by name from their doctors.
• When consumers use search engines for pharmaceutical or health information online, they are most likely to search by the name of a specific condition/disease or the name of a specific product.
• The most common situation for which they use a search engine for this purpose is when they have symptoms for a condition.

Worth a look…

Johnson & Johnson’s ‘BlackBag’ iPhone tool for physicians has been downloaded nearly 24,000 times since launching two months ago. That seems like a remarkable number, but it’s not too surprising when recent research indicates that 64% of physicians are using some sort of SmartPhone to stay connected.

BlackBag provides healthcare professionals with customizable news streams and access to articles organized around practice types. The information appears to be unbranded. Video content and podcasts are readily accessible through the application.

Healthcare communications professionals struggle with tactics and strategies to communicate with the medical community. Could smartphones and PDAs be the brave new world?

Click here to download BlackBag from iTunes.

Nice article from softwareadvice.com. The ”iTablet”maybe be the ultimate device for EMRs.

Apple is apparently rushing to launch its new tablet PC in time for the holiday shopping season. While still unconfirmed, features may include a 10in OLED screen, integrated Wi-Fi, full multi-touch/gestural UI, and a new multimedia platform called “Cocktail“. It’s unclear how these tablets will run applications–could be standard Mac OS, maybe iPhone apps, or possibly a hybrid.

While the actual features and functions are still conjecture, it not hard to imagine the possible uses of this device in healthcare. The concept of the tablets replacing paper is gaining steam, especially with the advent of electronic medical records. Could the MacBook tablet become the core platform for digital healthcare?

Lackluster hardware and poor user experiences have been major factors in the lack of tablet adoption among medical professional. If Apple can reengineer the tablet PC like iPhone reinvented the PDA, it’s not hard to envision medical tablet use gaining traction. And if the hardware takes off, expect to see a rush of new specialized applications and tools…could be interesting!

via medzio.com

Medzio.com’s free iPhone app delivers extensive healthcare information and medical resources. One in a line of emerging new mobile apps for healthcare.

Posted via web from bzipkin’s posterous

While the Microsoft Surface Table has been slow to hit major markets since its launch in 2007, the product offers plenty of promise for medical and healthcare applications.

A couple of examples:

VitraView by InterKnowlogy
This application allows doctors and patients to review surgical procedures, document procedures, and personalized medical information pulled from Microsoft Healthvault. Developed by Interknowlogy.

Patient Consultations on MS Surface
Developed by Infusion, this tool provides a platform that facilitates patient and healthcare provider communications during medical consultations. The app was named as one of the 11 Killer Apps for Microsoft Surface by Fast Company.