little white coats

Showing posts with label software. Show all posts

Filter it: Keeping up with digital information overload

I haven’t found a way of keeping up with all the information out there, even with textbook reading. I don’t know if there is way.

Tools:

Blogs RSS feeds: Google reader (http://www.google.com/reader)
Podcasts: Downcast app (www.downcastapp.com)
Stay in touch, network, and have instant discussions: Twitter, Google+

The only way that the content in these resources are relevant to me is after having a good foundation with textbook reading and reading journal articles. This is Seth Trueger (@MDAware) take on the cautionary use of social media.

I used to listen to podcasts in my car mostly on the way to work and on the way back (Always pay attention to the road). I read new blog posts (especially the short ones) while on breaks, waiting in line, etc. I use freemergencytalks.net by Joe Lex for specific lectures, mostly on patient-centered topics to see how I can improve my practice.

I am very, very selective. My selection process:

Who is the author?
Is this up to date?
Is this relevant to my practice?
Is it relatively short?

If a posts is really long and it’s an essay on everything on that has to do with topic I don’t read it, I just go to the textbook. I love posts and podcasts that deal with a specific question, is conversational, casual, yet informative.

Other resources about filtering which are worth looking at:

Information overload (Life In The Fast Lane)- examples of failure to filter
How to follow posts via RSS Feeds on the iPad (EMCrit)
A med student's take on EM blogs and podcasts (ShortCoatsInEM)
A master list of EM blogs and podcasts (Life in the Fast Lane)

Here are some of the top resources that I filter through:

The key for me is I know where to go when I have a specific question that needs to be answered. I filter the information, make sure I have a good knowledge background, and have fun. I hope this helps.
_____________________________

Lisa B. Marshall on communication overload: Although she is commercially sponsored (I have no affiliation), I think she gives good, and succinct advice. (Part 1, Part 2)

Welcome to the blog team: Dr. Javier Benítez

It is with great pleasure that I introduce the newest member of the Academic Life in EM blog team -- Dr. Javier Benítez. He is an extremely active EM Twitter educator (@jvrbntz), who can efficiently convey key concepts in 140 characters or less! Got a short attention span? Follow Javier's Twitter feed.

Currently, Javier is posting "Question of the Day" tweets, which reference the Paucis Verbis pocket cards on this site. It is a perfect example of a bridge between blogs and Twitter for medical education. He'll also be posting on the blog as well.

Here's a short blurb from Javier:
I went to medical school in SUNY Downstate in New York City where I became interested in emergency medicine and critical care. My other interests include medical education and social media as a tool for medicine. My goals are to practice medicine in an academic institution where I can work closely with medical students and residents. I have used Academic Life in EM as a learning tool and it has proven to be quite effective. It’s an honor to take part on this blog. My hopes are to inspire and educate other learners about the wonderful world of emergency medicine.

Moving Paucis Verbis in shared Dropbox folder to a public folder

The shared Dropbox folder option for my Paucis Verbis cards has been a bit quirky over the past years. Because the folder is a true "shared" folder, everyone has read and write capabilities. So, occasionally some of you have been renaming files, adding files, and even removing files without knowing that this is reflected in all 75 members' Dropbox folders.

So I decided to move to the Public folder option for Dropbox:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/d4daseofgc9qmht/7MQ2K9vNw9

When you click on this link while logged into your Dropbox account from your desktop/laptop, you can select the option to add the folder to your Dropbox account. This is a READ-ONLY link. From now on, I won't be updating the previously shared Dropbox folder.

Personally, I like the Evernote option better. You can join my public Evernote folder with the added benefit of being able to search for terms on each card. For instance, if you search "pediatric", several cards will pop up including cards on pediatric head trauma, pediatric fevers stratified by age, and croup.

Dr. Rob Rogers' new Tumblr site

The ever-prolific Dr. Rob Rogers (Univ of Maryland) is hosting all of his Medical Education Videos on his new Tumbler website:

http://mededumem.tumblr.com/

Thus far he has videos on:

Camtasia screencapturing
Khan Academy
Prezi
Life in the Fastlane blog

Keep up the great work!

Video: How to make a screencast video

A reader, Mark, posted a question yesterday in the chat box about screencapture softwares out there. I personally use iShowU to capture such videos as my instructional video on linking your Evernote account (above) to automatically read and download my weekly public Paucis Verbis notebook. Mark also specifically asked about what Dr. Rob Rogers (Univ of Maryland) uses.

Like magic, Rob made us a special 5-minute video to explain how he uses Camtasia for his screencapture videos.

I have no affiliation with iShowU or Camtasia. Like Rob mentions in his video, I'll be working until I'm 95 years old as well because I have no affiliations...

Modern EM: Case 3- Get your phones out

Sometimes on off-service morning table rounds, I like to close my tired eyes and focus my ears past the voice of the attending to hear the chorus of hundreds of pieces of paper flipping, shuffling, crinkling, and folding. It's one way to pass the time when surgeons debate over issues they don't already know the answers to. Another is to get your phone out, and help answer the questions with them.

Web 2.0 Resource used:

Micromedex

Surgeon 1: She's breast feeding.
Surgeon 2: She's on zosyn. Can she breast feed? Is that safe?
S1: I don't know.
S3: Let's ask ID.
S1: We're not consulting ID for such a simple question.
S2: We'll curbside them.
S1: Ok, call them after rounds.
Me: The WHO says it's safe. (Micromedex)

S1: The staph culture is pan-sensitive.
S2: Give her augmentin.
S3: She has a PCN allergy - anaphylaxis.
S1: I don't give keflex to anaphylactic reactions to PCN.
S3: We can't use levaquin or bactrim because she's on coumadin especially because this will be long term.
S1: So what do we use?
S2: Let's ask ID.
S1: Ok, I'll call ID today.
Me: You can use doxycycline - no listed interactions with warfarin (Micromedex)
S1: Okay, but make sure you follow her INRs closely.

S1: Her ostomy output is through the roof.
S2: We can't keep up with it. Replacing her cc per cc with IV fluids.
S3: Maybe it's the daptomycin. Is dapto like erythro? Does it give you diarrhea?
S2: I don't know.
Me: 6-12% have diarrhea. (Micromedex)
S1: 6-12% days of the week I have diarrhea too. Keep her on the dapto.

EM residents are already valued on off-service rotations for their superhuman abilities to insert IVs and use ultrasound machines. Now, we can facilitate morning rounds with our smart phones too.

This is a 3-part guest series by Dr. Timothy Peck, who is launching his own blog at ModernEM.blogspot.com. Check it out!

Introducing a new blog: "Modern EM"

Last month, I announced Dr. Timothy Peck (Beth Israel Deaconess EM resident) as one of the winners of the Blog Incubator Contest. Starting today and for the next 2 Mondays, he'll be posting a 3-part series, which will eventually end up on his blog "Modern EM" at ModernEM.blogspot.com. His blog will feature examples of how Web 2.0 influenced the management of specific patient encounters. Also guests will be allowed to contribute mini-case presentations where they will report how a Web 2.0 activity changed how they managed a patient.

The blog is still in development phase. In the meantime, you are in for a treat. His upcoming blog entries are great examples demonstrating the impact of online and app-based clinical decision support tools in the ED.

Let's welcome Tim to the blogging community!

Linking my Paucis Verbis notebook to your Evernote account

I have created 99 Paucis Verbis card thus far. A common question that I have heard from residents and various readers involve difficulties in linking my PV public notebook with their Evernote account.

If you manually download my cards, I highly encourage you to use this feature in Evernote. Every time I upload a card, you will automatically get it on your Evernote... like magic!

My Evernote public notebook URL:
www.evernote.com/pub/michelleclin/paucisverbis

Here's a screen capture on how to do this. Of course, you DO need to have an Evernote account (free).

Students/residents: Free 1-yr subscription to PEMSoft

A January 2012 special!

It is still the season of giving… for medical students and residents.

The Editors-in-Chief of PEMSoft (Pediatric Emergency Medicine Software) want to share a one-year free subscription to a dynamic online pediatric EM reference. PEMSoft brings the medical library to the bedside! It is a point-of-care clinical support tool and knowledge system that is indispensable if you care for sick neonates or young adults. PEMSoft is also a superb educational resource--with over 3000 images and videos, as well as multiple interactive modules to refine diagnosis and treatment, and a sophisticated search engine to find topics instantly and to generate differential diagnosis.

PEMSoft has had a total makeover in 2012, with more than 8 special modules added to the updated vast, core knowledge base that now includes over 2000 topics. This new interface is especially suited for use on tablets and mobile devices at the bedside and on rounds. Previous reviews of the software have declared it "a new publication that completely resets the standards in its field" (Ped Emerg Care, 23(8); 2007). Test it out the new version for yourself! See our informational website at www.pemsoft.com for more details and testimonials from your colleagues.

I recently delivered donated versions of PEMSoft and trained tons of grateful physicians in Vietnam, on behalf of KidsCareEverywhere. A personal subscription of the online software currently currently costs $95/yr. In full disclosure, I am one of their section editors. I manage the multimedia Procedures section. If you listen closely, you'll hear my voiceover in several of the videos.

Visit our informational website: www.pemsoft.com
Enter the software itself: www.pemsoft.net
"Like" us on Facebook: http://alturl.com/kwpsz

How do you get this amazing 1-year free subscription? Fill out the form below, and I'll personally email you your username and password.

The deal expires Jan 31, 2012.

YouTube: Now you can edit your videos online!

Starting September 2011, YouTube now allows you to directly edit your video online. This is especially useful for those of us who upload iPhone or other mobile phone-based videos and don't want to go through the added step of DOWNloading our video, doing minor edits, and then before UPloading to YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/editor

They really capture the primary features which you really need:

Trimming the video (start and end)
Rotating the video
Manually changing the brightness and contrast

Join.Me: A free online screenshare and phone conferencing tool

Skype, FaceTime, Google+ Hangout.

So many options!

I recently used a free online tool at Join.Me so that 3 people can discuss the statistical analysis of a paper we are working on. But it's so hard to get 3 busy people in the same room at the same time! So, we tried Join.Me. We basically needed to view one shared computer to review the statistical data and share a conference call phone line.

What I was immediately impressed by was the simplicity in the whole process. It's FREE and PC-/Mac-compatible.

1. Go to the simplistically appealing home page (see above).
2. Click on the orange"share" icon.
3. This automatically downloads a software package which you should install.
4. Open the Join.Me software app on your computer.

5. A pop-up screen (above) will appear. Now click on the Share icon.

6. This will automatically give you an URL link to share with others to view your screen PLUS a free conference call line.

Here's a sample promotional image of what a session looks like:

We had a great meeting about a multicenter (11 hospitals!) educational study on the impact of an English-based pediatric software on physician decision making in Vietnam. It was super-fast, efficient, and hassle-free.

Get feedback on your PPT or PDF files: Reelapp.com

www.ReelApp.com

The smart folks at Zurb have come up with a clever app. This free Web-based app, called Reel, allows you to quickly collect thumbs-up/ thumbs-down votes on each slide or image. . Think of it as Slideshare with a "likes" feature added.

So if you are working on a Powerpoint, a series of images, or even PDF's and want feedback from friends and colleagues without having to email the large file around, think about uploading to Reel. What a great way of crowd-sourcing feedback.

For instance, here are my "Tricks of the Trade" lectures slides for the upcoming ACEP meeting in October. See how you can give a like or hate vote to each slide. Feedback is welcome but alas they already made me turn in the files a long while ago.

Note: This only works for still images, so movie files in my Powerpoint slides don't work.

Sharing Paucis Verbis cards using Evernote app

Hot off the press!

As of yesterday, the comprehensive note-taking/organizer software Evernote has made a significant upgrade. Your mobile app version can now view shared notebooks.

Previously, you could share notecards or files with others using the "Shared Notebook" option. A major limitation was that you could only view files in these folders from the web application of Evernote -- not your desktop or your mobile device.

What does that mean now?

On your mobile device, such as your iPad or iPhone, you can now automatically get my Paucis Verbis (PV) cards every week. You don't have to manually download them. In fact, you might get an early preview of a PV card, since I usually make then 1-2 days prior to posting them on the blog. I keep them all in a Shared Notebook on Evernote.

How to link to my PV Shared Notebook:

1. Go to the public link:

http://www.evernote.com/pub/michelleclin/paucisverbis

2. In the upper right corner, click on the "Link to my Account" icon. This should create a PV folder in your list of "Linked Notebooks". This will require you to sign-in to Evernote, if you have not already.

3. After you update your Evernote app, your mobile device will now list "Shared notebook" as a new folder in your list of Notebooks (see image above). All of my PV cards should appear in this folder now.

Let me know if this doesn't work for you.

Happy Friday the 12th

OK, I just made up a holiday.

I totally ran out of time to make a new Paucis Verbis card today, because I'm at a big 3-day retreat on developing a new online software resource for EM. I'm the co-Editor in Chief of this online and mobile app tool. Looking to take over the world. I want to divert from traditional practice where authors are invited by colleagues, based on the fact that they are friends or the topic relates to their area of research. Instead I'm soliciting the virtual collective for interested authors!

If you are a faculty member and interested in being an author for a digital textbook chapter in the EM areas of Trauma or Psychiatry, please email me. I can provide more details.

First annual Medical Apps Awards: Vote now

The polls for the first annual Medical Apps Awards is now open. Voting closes April 21, 2011 @ 12:00 AM EST.

General instructions (you can win various prizes)
Go directly to the polls

There are 3 categories that you can vote on:

1. Best Medical App for Healthcare Professionals

MediBabble - a medical translation tool
Doximity - a professional networking tool
Medscape - comprehensive guide to drugs, interactions, diseases, & procedures
Epocrates - comprehensive guide to drugs, interactions, identifying pills, & calculators
DrChrono - the first EMR for the ipad

2. Best Medical App for Patients

iHealth BPM w/ cuff - the first medical app to take your blood pressure & keep track of it
Asthma Maze - know which food additives & cosmetic ingredients can trigger an asthma attack
Mayo Clinic Diabetes Type 2 Wellness Solutions - comprehensive guide to diabetes
Free RX iCard - get discounts on prescription drugs at participating pharmacies, easy locater
Calorie Tracker by Livestrong - keep track of your daily calories and weight loss progress

3. Most Innovative Medical App

Airstrip - monitor your patient's vitals, waveforms, labs, I/Os, meds, & allergies from home
Webicina - a comprehensive online medical resource for both patients & healthcare folks
Fooducate - scan any barcode in the grocery store to instantly see product health highlights
PocketCPR w/cradle - real-time feedback so that anyone can do CPR correctly
Google Translate - speak into your phone and it will speak out the translation

I thought I would mention this since Medibabble was created by recent graduates from the UCSF School of Medicine. It's a creative, well thought-out, free medical translation app. I had highlighted the app back in Feb 2011 and deserves to be on the list of impressive apps.

The downside of voting is that you are required to enter your email and snail-mail address in case you win the prize. Good luck to all the nominees!

I do not have any financial ties with any of these apps.

Foiling a thief - high tech Dropbox style

In the past, I've talked about how amazing the cloud-based software Dropbox is. I use it to share my Paucis Verbis cards and share large files with others instead of attaching the whole file in an email. Here's one way I hadn't even imagined but love how stealthy this is.

In the LifeHacker blog (a general, tech-focused Tricks of the Trade website), a reader described how he used Dropbox to recover his stolen laptop.

How did he do this?
In a nutshell, Dropbox maintains a list of all the active devices which are sync'd to your Dropbox account. When you go the Dropbox website, you can log into your account and view all the devices affiliated with your account. For me, my laptop, iPhone, and iPad all have the Dropbox app. If you roll over the blue "i" next to the date of last activity, it will tell you the IP address of where it last sync'd. Because the synchronization takes place automatically, you can track where your laptop was in use most recently.

This led to the capture of the person who stole the reader's laptop. I love how sneaky and resourceful the reader was.

Just something to remember if you get your laptop or peripheral device stolen...

Hot off the press: MediBabble app

Ever since my post about the top medical apps, I have been inundated with people asking me to review their apps.

One has stood out.

Medibabble is a real-time medical translation app and is now available for FREE. It was created by two innovative UCSF medical school graduates, Dr. Alex Blau and Dr. Brad Cohn. This app contains an extensive preset list of history questions and physical exam commands. When you click on a sentence, the app will translate and speak the sentence in one of 5 languages (Spanish, Cantonese, Mandarin, Russian, and Haitian Creole).

Download MediBabble (takes you to iTunes link)

Take a few minutes to download all of the free languages onto your device. It only comes with Spanish pre-installed. There is a FAQ page at www.medibabble.com. The app is only available for the iOS platform currently.

Poll: Which handheld drug prescribing app do you use?

Well I finally took the leap and am primarily relying on my iPhone to look up medication doses, which I don't know off the top of my head. Gone are the days of purchasing Tarascon's pocket Pharmacopoeia every few years or so.

I still haven't settled on which I like more. Both are free. Both are available on multiple platforms, including iOS, Blackberry, and Android. Both have some unique features which I find useful.

Common strengths for both apps:

They're free!
Easy to find drug you are looking for. Epocrates has a Search screen as the home page. Micromedex has a Search screen and alphabetical list of medications as the home page.
Dosing adjustments based on renal and hepatic function
Adult and pediatric dosing recommendations
Safety information with preganancy and lactation

Unique strengths of the apps:

Micromedex:

Includes toxicology information for all the medications (what to do in case of an overdose)
I have heard that this Thomson Reuters app has been more peer-reviewed and accepted as a very reliable resource, especially for pediatric dosing.
Free from obvious advertisements (which is sometimes seen in Epocrates via the Doc Alerts)

Epocrates:

Has pricing information
Allows user to identify unknown pill based on pill characteristics (color, shape, etc)
Ability for you to take notes on the app

They both will likely answer 99% of what you are looking for from a drug-prescribing perspective. So, which do you prefer and why?

Need your help! Favorite medical apps

So, I volunteered to give a talk for the UCSF Office of Graduate Medical Education WAAAAY back in early 2010 on "There’s an App for That: Key Smart Phone Applications for Surviving Residency". Somehow the lecture date has snuck up on me and it's next Tuesday! I thought it was a small gathering, but it turns out it's not. Plus, I keep getting school-wide emails reminding all the residents and fellows to attending!

In a mild panic, I'm asking for the collective group's help.

Audience: Medical students, residents, fellows across all specialties
Time allotted: 1 hour

Here's my brainstorming list of the best FREE apps. Remember, these apps should be useful not JUST for Emergency Medicine.

Evernote
Dropbox
Epocrates
New England Journal of Medicine app (weekly podcast, images, videos)
Eye Handbook
Eye Chart
Not really an app, but the camera feature can be useful in many scenarios. For instance, photograph and email a series of EKGs to the Cardiology fellow for a possible STEMI case. Or, take pictures of an intoxicated patient's massive facial laceration to prove that there is INDEED a large gash extending across the entire forehead.

Other apps worth purchasing:

Papers
PediStat

Anything others that you can suggest? I'm happy to give you credit for those that I mention in the talk.

Sharing Multiple URL Links at Once

More and more we're living on the net. For many academic physicians, the internet has become a work and a teaching tool. Whether you're sharing sites on a shift or forwarding links to the students, resident or colleague on a subsequent day, URL-shortening services can help you organize your links to favorite URLs, be more efficient, and. keep your email or blog text cleaner.

BIT-dot-LY or BITLY: This simple user interface allows you to enter a URL and get back a shortened version with one click. For example: I love showing my residents Michelle's Trick of the Trade for Irrigating Scalp Lacerations. I search for the blog post and enter the long URL into BITLY, and voi-la:

As you can see, http://academiclifeinem.blogspot.com/2010/01/trick-of-trade-irrigating-scalp.html became http://bit.ly/b50AeV, by entering a URL and a few clicks.

Hot off the press: Sharing URL links at once
This past week, BITLY and others began offering the option to share multiple long-URLs with bundled into one short-URL.

For example, I wanted to share with colleagues links to six of the simulation centers that are affiliated with Harvard Medical School, so instead of sharing all six long-URL's I simply created a bundle and shared. When it was all set and done,six long URLs got bundled elegantly into one: http://bit.ly/cxQWdH.

If you want more information, here is a review and directions from TechCrunch: http://tcrn.ch/dBKzuP.

FYI, you will have to get a free account in Bit.ly to do this. After logging in, you then just type in all the website URLs, separated by a {space}. As you type, each site URL gets shortened (see below). Then click "Bundle". Here is an example:

A single shortened URL link will be created. In this test case, this generated the code: http://bit.ly/bAUQKS. Click on it see the 3 combined links.

There are other sites that offer similar services such as BridgeURL and Clusters.

Happy surfing, sharing, blogging and posting (and Thanksgiving)!

Demian