Boston hospital launches SMS ER wait times: Boston's MetroWest Medical Center launched a texting program last week that enables people to find out emergency room wait times. In the week since it launched 450 people have texted in, according to the report. Users need to text 63311 to 437-411 to get the wait times. That's "Med11" to "4ER411" Boston Globe
Telecom Analyst: Time to splash around is now: Jeff Kagan is one of the biggest names among wireless and telecom industry analysts. Interesting to read his thoughts on wireless + healthcare, here's his conclusion: "I am in the wireless and telecom business, not healthcare. However, it is very interesting how these two previously unrelated fields are now overlapping. This is just the beginning. No one wants to be left behind when the wave of change passes. That means now is the time to jump in and splash around, before the real heat of competition begins." E-Commerce News
Smartphones + EMRs + New Security Measures = Some unhappy MDs: George Hickman, EVP and CIO at Albany Medical Center surveyed his colleagues at College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) on smartphone use and found that 18 of the 52 hospitals that responded to his informal survey said they allowed smartphones to access the hospitals' EMRs or other clinical tools. Even those facilities that support smartphones have their limits. The survey found security was a key challenge and those hospitals that are already smartphone-friendly often lock down "idle" phones and require users to enter a password to begin using them again. These policies sometimes turn doctors off to using their smartphones at work, according to the report over at American Medical News. AMedNews has more on smartphone adoption among physicians with quotes from many of the usual suspects, including Spyglass, Manhattan and more. AMedNews
Connectivity + Scalability = Wireless health's big challenge: A new survey and report conducted by Greystone Associates concluded that "integrating the flow of patient information on a facility-wide basis has been viewed as a critical first step in the evolution of patient care in the digital world" and "integration beyond the wired hospital LAN via wirelessly enabled devices is the next frontier." The main challenge according to Greystone? Wireless devices "must overcome lingering connectivity and network scalability issues." Read more of the (very high level / scant on specific findings) press release here: Press Release
RTLS + YouTube + Musically Gifted HCPS = Big RTLS Music Video Contest: Awarepoint just launched the Big RTLS Music Video Contest: Open to all hospital staff in the US. Create a music video based on experiences related to the challenge of locating medical equipment... Awarepoint's contest was partially inspired by the company's theme song endeavor, which parodies the Stone's Can't Get No Satisfaction (MP3 available here) The music video contest includes cash prices and the like. More here: Press Release
