digiDoc Technologies

Leo Laporte of This Week in Tech mentions digiDoc Technologies' Pulse Oximeter app in connection with possible features in Apple's rumored Healthbook app. The app is mentioned around 0:16:30.

Kelly Hodgkins of TUAW has featured the digiDoc Pulse Oximeter app as the Daily App.

Like most heart rate apps, digiDoc Pulse Oximeter requires you to place your finger over your camera and lens and wait a few seconds while the app takes its measurements. With the digiDoc Pulse Oximeter, there is an extra calibration step in the beginning that turns on the LED flash and adjusts the app before you place your finger on your phone. The app walks you through the calibration and measurement using on-screen prompts, making it easy to use. In a minute or so, the app will report that it is finished and will show your heart rate and SpO2 measurement. A useful running log keeps track of all your measurements in the app.

digiDoc Pulse Oximeter has a beautiful, easy-to-use design that fits in well with iOS 7[...]

John Wilbanks wants us to pool our medical data so we can increase the strength of our research in order to find better cures, faster. He makes a pretty good point.

What really depresses me is that all these studies on prostate cancer and all these studies on skin cancer can't be combined. The answer to prostate cancer may be in skin cancer and vice versa. We don't know. I mean, the chief argument for sharing this information, to me, is the ability to make unanticipated discoveries.

Great list by Robin Farmanfarmaian.

1. Educate and empower patients to take control of their health.
2. Help physicians and patients monitor and diagnose disease.
3. Assist in medical procedures.
4. Allow patients to control and manage their pain.
5. Make personal fitness more fun.

A pretty good list of the best current wearable tech. It will be interesting to see which consumer products get the most traction or use in health care.

As the need for health care increases, most look to digital solutions for efficiency and better patient care. In my opinion, this article from Inc. gives a good overview of the four biggest challenges in health care.

The tricky part of reducing health care spending is that most of what affects a patient's need for treatment happens outside the hospital and doctor's office--diet and exercise, the onset of ominous symptoms, adherence to medication regimens, and much more. That means doctors need more and better information on what's happening to patients at all times so they can offer the right treatments and advice, and patients need support to stick with those treatments at home and elsewhere.

Founder, journalist, and diabetic, Om Malik, explains why Google's Smart Contact Lenses show that the company is tone-deaf to the needs and problems of diabetics.

But after the initial excitement was over, cold reality set in. It also prompted me to ask the question: why is it that a company with such good intentions fails to ask itself very basic of questions, something a normal human being would ponder before embarking on a scientific quest?

For example, why would they ignore the fact that as a diabetes patient, it is generally recommended that I not wear contact lenses. Yes, I understand that there are many different opinions about this, but it is generally thought of as smart to not wear contact lenses, as they always carry the risk of increased complications for diabetics. And on top of that if you have say, astigmatism (like I do), then contacts are less of an option.

Never mind the big fact that most of the people who do suffer from diabetes (Type II) tend to get it because of poor diet, most often because of lack of better diet options due to increased economic and financial stratification of our society. Diabetes is a growing problem in countries in South Asia and parts of Asia and Latin America, especially among those who fit in the lower income category; you know, the kind of people who might find contact lenses an expensive luxury. The less financially fortunate among us are very same group who are much more likely to not monitor their blood sugar levels due to work conditions and financial limitations.

A very valid question by MobiHealthNews' Jonah Comstock.

One question we’ve been asking for a while that still hasn’t been answered is this: is the fitness tracker, as a dedicated, distinct device, going to persist as a category? Or will smartwatches, or even phones themselves, prove themselves adept enough at fitness tracking to make a dedicated bracelet obsolete? What makes the activity tracker category so different than the Mp3 player or the PDA when they first launched — two devices which have now been largely absorbed by smartphones that can do everything they can do?

Apple’s introduction of the M7 motion co-processor earlier this year — and the succession of apps that have jumped on board that trend speaks to this risk. Just a few weeks ago, Fitbit itself introduced tracker-free tracking to its app, something Arnold commented on.

“To me, that is sort of a statement about the role that hardware plays in the struggle between dedicated hardware, you know sensors embedded in your body, versus a phone that has an extra accelerometer in it or you know another processor that can help you with all that information paired with an app that can make sense of it,” he said. “I mean that’s a huge issue that the market is going to have to deal with, this age old hardware versus software argument. And that’s probably what I’ll be looking for in 2014.”

Dr. Berci Meskó gives his digital health predictions for 2014 in a blog post on his medtech-blog, ScienceRoll. Among predictions of increased adoption of Google Glass and the commercial use of IBM's Watson supercomputer he also believes that we will se a trend in home diagnostics, which is what digiDoc Technologies is all about.

7) Home diagnostics to be the key trend: Not only Scanadu will ship the first prototypes early 2014, but other similar devices with which patients can measure simple health parameters at home will become available.

Neil Murray writes about how a few nations with a total population of 26 mio. have a massive impact on the world's technology and development.

Individually, the contributions that Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland have made to the Internet and technology are extremely impressive.

However, combined together as a region, their achievements are nothing short of mind-blowing, and made even more notable when you consider that even with five countries, the total population only stands at 26 million.

The World Health Organization saves lives by training health personnel in the use of pulse oximeters.

A large number of anaesthesia providers in low resource settings lack sufficient training about monitoring oxygen levels in the blood. WHO Patient Safety, together with the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists (WFSA), the Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland (AAGBI) and others, has developed a training tool kit, consisting of a manual, a video and slide sets to improve provider response to hypoxemia.

John Hopkins Medicine health library has a nice article about the what, how, and why of pulse oxymetry.

Pulse oximetry technology utilizes the light absorptive characteristics of hemoglobin and the pulsating nature of blood flow in the arteries to aid in determining the oxygenation status in the body.

Aussie blogger Matt Packer really gets what digiDoc Technologies is about.

Imagine if I had a web-based application that grabbed my various datas that I collect, my step count from my Jawbone UP, my weight from my Withings scales, and my BP from my Withings BP monitor, and then that data was then shared with my GP, then all he would need to do is set some parameters where he gets alerted if there are changes outside the norm. From there he could issue my Pharmacist with renewals of my script and maybe I only need to see him once or twice a year, or any time that he requested because my vitals had changed outside the normal parameters. Think of the time saving, think of the cost savings! Doctors would be able to see patients who actually were sick, rather than ones who just take up time getting their scripts renewed.

A video by Sundhedsinnovation Sjælland of the digiDoc presentation at #sundhack Hackathon 2013 in Denmark [da]. We’ve uploaded an english version as well.

Hacking Mobile Health bød i november måned udviklere fra hele landet indenfor til at prøve kræfter med nogle af udfordringerne i det danske sundhedsvæsen. Udfordringerne skulle løses på én enkelt dag ved hjælp af en mobil applikation til enten Android, IOS eller Windows Phone 8, og førstepræmien var 50.000 kroner til udvikling af applikationen. Der har været stor opbakning fra sygehusene i Region Sjælland, hvor personale fra flere forskellige sygehuse er kommet med input til de fire udfordringer. Deltagerne kom med mange gode forslag og vinderne af konkurrencen blev Relation Technologies med en app, der skal hjælpe unge diabetikere med blandt andet at huske medicinen til festlige lejligheder. Sundhedsinnovation Sjælland arrangerede Hackathon i samarbejde med DTU Risø og Medico Innovation

A good friend of the company, Jan Arvid Grimsrud, helped us out with the short How-To video for the website. Jan Arvid is an excellent hobby photographer, and you should take the time to marvel at his time-lapse videos of the Norwegian Aurora Borrealis.

shot on march 18 from 20.00 to 01.00 with Canon 5D mark 3 and 7D. It's rare that the aurora is visible this far south in Norway.