Checkdent: The Social Network for Dental Health

Checkdent, the dental video platform launched in 2006, announced the relaunch of its site with the addition of a social network for dentists and patients.

The newly launched social network offers a combination of features not available on any other dental health site, including:

  • a dental health forum where patients can get answers from dentists and other users on popular topics like teeth bleaching, braces, wisdom teeth and root canal treatments
  • an extensive collection of over 200 educational dental video clips and 300 articles  continuously updated and added by a team of experts
  • an interactive dentist directory with profile pages linked to the Checkdent social network
  • the option for verified patients to write detailed reviews and rate dentists in key areas such as chairside manner, patient information and average wait time
  • an easy way for dentists to reach out to new and existing patients Read the rest of this entry »

Getting healthier through technology

Saying you want to get healthier is one thing. But actually committing to it, following it through and changing your lifestyle for the better is something else entirely.

MYTRAK PersonalLifestyle Activity CoachPeople too often find it difficult to stick with a new routine, but MYTRAK Health System Inc.’s revolutionary fitness device gives people a technological solution to help them stick to their fitness resolutions. Read the rest of this entry »


Goal to Reduce Heart’s Workload and Increase Blood Flow for High-Risk PCI Patients

A new device designed to assist blood circulation and support blood pressure in high-risk patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has shown improved outcomes compared to the standard treatment with an intraaortic balloon pump. Results of the PROTECT II study were presented as a Late-Breaking Clinical Trial today at the SCAI 2011 Scientific Sessions in Baltimore.

These devices decrease the heart’s workload and increase blood pressure by assisting the heart to pump blood, and are generally used in critical situations, such as after a heart attack. For many years physicians have used intraaortic balloon pumps to support the heart pumping blood. A new device called Impella 2.5 is small enough to be inserted like a catheter, through the groin, to the heart’s main pumping chamber to assist the heart in pumping blood.

“As PCI advances, we’re increasingly able to treat sicker patients, but often those patients have great strains on their hearts and need extra blood pressure support. The Impella device is small enough to be inserted directly into the heart to assist the heart in pumping blood to the rest of the body,” said William O’Neill, M.D., FSCAI, executive dean of clinical affairs at the University of Miami and the study’s principal investigator. “Our study compares this new device to standard pumping devices used for high-risk patients.” Read the rest of this entry »


Mayo Clinic, Geisinger, Kaiser Permanente, Intermountain Healthcare, and Group Health Announce Plan to Securely Share Patient-Specific Data Through Care Connectivity Consortium

Five innovative and leading health systems, each of whom are pioneers in the use of electronic medical records for their patients, joined together to announce a new initiative to securely exchange electronic health data, with the first data exchange planned in the next year.

Electronic medical information is one of the most important care support tools available in world health care today. That tool works much better when the caregivers for a single patient can connect electronically. These leading care systems have created the Care Connectivity Consortium to pioneer the effective connectivity of electronic patient information in an approach that protects patient confidentiality.

Collectively bringing together both the latest technology and a shared mission to deliver patient-centered high-value health care to the citizens of this nation, Geisinger Health System (PA), Kaiser Permanente (CA), Mayo Clinic (MN), Intermountain Healthcare (UT), and Group Health Cooperative (WA) today announced the creation of an interoperability consortium. The consortium will utilize standards-based health information technology to share data about patients electronically.

“Five of the nation’s premier health care providers have decided to form this consortium to help lead the health care discussion in this country with this unprecedented health IT collaboration created to deliver high-quality, patient-centered care,” said Glenn Steele, Jr., MD, PhD, president and chief executive officer, Geisinger Health System.

The goal of the consortium is to demonstrate better and safer care with better data availability. Patients will benefit. If a patient from one system gets sick far from home and must receive health care in another system — or if any system sends patients to another — doctors and nurses at each of the consortium systems will be able to easily and quickly access invaluable information about the patient’s medications, allergies, and health conditions, allowing them to provide the right kind of treatment at the right time and avoid unintended consequences like adverse medication interactions. Read the rest of this entry »


Categories

Archives

Blogroll

Meta