3M unveils Bluetooth stethoscope
3M has introduced an electronic stethoscope that uses decision support software to analyse heart, lung and other body sounds, reports HealthDataManagement.
The Littmann Electronic Stethoscope Model 3200 uses Bluetooth technology to wirelessly transfer body sounds to custom-built decision support applications from Zargis Medical, Princeton, New Jersey.
The Zargis Cardioscan software collects and analyses data from stethoscope readings of four main cardiac sites. According to the vendor, after about a minute of readings, the application indicates whether or not the patient has a suspected diastolic or systolic murmur, and whether an ecshocardiography referral is warranted.
$950m wireless health market by 2014
Wireless devices that monitor patients' conditions and report the data to healthcare providers will show a 77% compound annual growth rate that will create global revenues of $950 million by 2014, according to a recent report from ABI Research, states MobiHealthNews.
“Hospitals and other healthcare providers are being economically squeezed,” ABI Research vice-president Stan Schatt said in a statement.
“The demands on the medical system are exacerbated by the aging of populations in most developed nations. Doctors and hospitals are looking for ways to save money, and wireless patient monitoring has a huge potential to do that, for both in-and out-patients,” he continued.
Twitter used for medical alerts
American doctors are the latest leapers on the Twitter bandwagon, according to a US medical journal, says TechRadar.
The latest issue of Telemedicine and e-Health found an increase in the use of Twitter for real-time, on-the-go communication of healthcare information and medical alerts.
Top uses for Twitter include sharing time-critical information such as disaster alerts and drug safety warnings, tracking disease outbreaks, or disseminating healthcare information.
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