Medical IT

From time to time I attend medical and bioscience professional conferences.
One recurring theme is how much room there is for improvement in medical data management and information technology. Some of the challenges include:
*getting the hodge podge of computer systems found in a large medical facility to interact and share data
*improving methods of storing, accessing & sharing patient records
*tracking treatment results.

I've recently read about some initiatives that may make a big difference.
First, WorldVistA is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization with a mission to make "medical information technology better and universally affordable." WorldVistA promotes the development and extended use of an open source medical-records program called VistA. VistA was originally created at the US Department of Veterans Affairs. The open source nature of the project means that it ought to be very adaptable and robust and could improve wide-spread data sharing.

Second, Microsoft Health has acquired a project called Azyxxi. According to the website, the Azyxxi software can be used to assimilate "patient-centric, financial and operational data into one unified database." This kind of approach ought to help streamline operations in a facility. The project is in a test stage and MS has partnered with some prestigious hospitals to test the system in real-world situations.

And of course Google has been at work on the problem too, with a health information storage program codenamed Weaver or Google Health. There are some screen shots of the project posted on a blog called blogoscoped. It looks like the project combines Google's search technology with a way for patients to access, store and transfer their own medical records. I like the "put the patient in charge" attitude.
I wonder if it will be compatible with the VistA project?
Google posted a video of VP Marissa Mayer describing(in very general terms)what Weaver might become(see below).
-R

Google Map of Medical ParticleTherapy Centers

I provide research and analysis to a private firm that plans to participate in a rapidly developing sector of the health services industry: ion particle radiotherapy.

The term radiotherapy refers to the medical practice of irradiating cancers. These days radiation therapy is usually accomplished by use of a compact linear accelerator that directs electrons at a tungsten target, producing high energy x-rays that irradiate the targeted malignancy.

However, a growing number of patients have been treated with radiation generated by accelerators that emit beams of larger ionized sub-atomic particles, most commonly protons or ionized carbon. Advocates for this type of radiation therapy prefer it over x-ray radiation because they say the unique physical properties of the ionized particles make it possible to better focus the radiation on tumors thereby sparing the healthy tissue nearby. The Wikipedia entry about Proton Therapy is a good resource to learn about this kind of radiation therapy, but I also recommend reading Paganetti& Bortfeld (for protons) and Amaldi & Kraft (for carbon).

A number of equipment manufacturers have now developed particle accelerators specifically for medical use and have incorporated them into complicated treatment devices which are being marketed to medical groups around the world as the centerpiece of a cancer treatment center.

These Particle Treatment Centers are growing in number, and one day on a whim I started a project of mapping the world's particle therapy centers with Google Maps. It is not an easy task as I am not familiar with many of the regions where these centers exist. I haven't done much yet, so I will have to post my efforts later, but while I was working on my map I found that one Stefan W has already been at the same task for months. He isn't always precise in some of his marks, but he has extensive knowledge of the field and has done a lot of work tracking this sector. I will certainly use his very useful map as a resource.

Check out Stefan's work here:

View Larger Map

Nikola Tesla on Studio 360

Novelists Kurt Andersen & Samantha Hunt discuss Nikola Tesla on today's Studio 360.
If you already know about Tesla, you probably won't be bored hearing the same stuff you've already know, but if you don't know much about Tesla, then don't miss this chance to learn about him from a non-technical source.
-R
The mp3 "podcast" is here:
link

PS Here is the film Edison shot of an elephant being electrocuted, a part of his crusade against Alternating Current.

False Pretenses

We are listening to Harry Shearer on Le Show sing about the "935 false statements in the two years following September 11, 2001, about the national security threat posed by Saddam Hussein's Iraq" made by the Bush Administration.

He is referencing the Iraq War Card issued by the Center for Public Integrity.

I believe I will have a look, maybe you should too. If you do, let me know what you find there.
-R
link

Nice Rainbow over the Santa Ynez River

 

It was nice to get out of the house after several days of hard rain.
-R

New Reader Feed

I re-routed the web-feed for this blog through FeedBurner, as I hear that is what the cool bloggers do.

If you have already subscribed, thank you very much, but please consider an update to the NEW WAY:

 Subscribe in a reader

Thanks
-R

and it ain't a fit night out for man or beast!

the inclement weather reminds me of one of my favorite wc fields bits:
-R