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Medical Texts |
scotsboyuk
Joined: Jun 02, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: UK
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I thought that this article was rather interesting as it highlights, in my opinion, quite a creative use of text messaging to aid doctors and families of patients.
http://straitstimes.asia1.com[....]es/story/0,4386,256096,00.html
P.S. I am aware that the title of this thread is a bad pun. 
"I may be drunk my dear woman, but in the morning I will be sober, and you will still be ugly." WSC | |
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energetic
Joined: Jan 13, 2003
Posts: > 500
From: Athens, Greece, Europe, Earth,
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Very interesting I must say.
And here is the story for wappers.
------------------------------------------------------------------Beep! You have a new SMS message - from the doctor
Such updates on your relative in NUH are the latest use for the SMS, with hospitals already using it in various other ways
By Lee Hui Chieh
NATIONAL sepak takraw team coach Salleh Nanang, 42, was taken aback when amid work, he received a short text message on his mobile phone - from his mother's doctor.
It told him that Madam Maimon Jonit, 61, was doing better at the medical intensive care unit in the National University Hospital (NUH), where she had been admitted with breathing difficulties and heart problems.
Said Mr Salleh of the service introduced last month: 'It's a very good idea, because it lets us know how my mother is doing when we're not around. So if her condition is getting worse, I'd rush to see her, but if she is fine, then I knew it's okay if I go a bit later.'
It's a daily SMS update service the medical intensive care unit has named Mercury, after the messenger of the gods in Greek mythology.
After their morning rounds, the doctors will compose and send an SMS to the patient's designated contact relative, to inform them on the patient's condition, how he or she was responding to treatment and what tests were scheduled later in the day, if any.
The unit's director, Associate Professor Lee Kang Hoe, who came up with the idea, said: 'We usually talk to patients' family members after our morning rounds, but this requires them to be physically present, and not everyone can make it at the time every day.
'This is meant to change the existing paradigm to one where we proactively seek the patients' family out on a regular basis and reassure them.'
But it will not replace face-to-face communication between the doctors and the patient's family members.
This latest use of SMS by public hospitals is on top of the reminders NUH and Tan Tock Seng Hospital send by mobile phones to outpatients on their medical appointments three days before the date.
Patients can also leave their cellphone number at NUH's pharmacies to be informed when their medication is ready.
Similarly, since March 2002, hospitals run by public health-care cluster Singapore Health Services (SingHealth) - Singapore General (SGH), Changi General and KK Women's and Children's - have been sending SMS to remind outpatients of their medical appointments, three to seven days before the time.
SGH will also SMS its outpatients who are third, fourth or fifth in line, so that they no longer need to sit and wait in the clinic for their time with the doctor.
This month, it has also started providing 'no-show reminders', messaging those who have missed their appointments a day after to remind them to make a new appointment.
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Posted: 2004-06-15 12:36
