Have you heard about the advantages of Clubhouse for doctors? One of the latest social networks has stood out due to the quality content shared by professionals who are references in the health area.
One of the great features in the new platform is the exclusive use of audio. Everything happens in real-time, in rooms the users themselves create, so it offers plenty of rich contents only found there.
Learn more about Clubhouse, its benefits and 5 must-see clubs for doctors.
Clubhouse-how it works
Clubhouse is a social network based on voice chats. Conversations take place in rooms – the clubs – created by members according to their common interests, more informally, even on important matters.
Chats are always live. The “speakers” mediate the discussions: they are users who can speak during the chat, and the” listeners” can only listen to the conversation. You can ask the group admins for speaking. They may accept the request or not.
At the end of the chat, clubs are no longer accessible. Any member can create new rooms, private or public, and invite participants. You can also create an event, providing date, time and content description.
The audience of each room is measured according to the number of members, participation of renowned experts, spontaneous interactions and exchange of genuine experiences. That is, content is king to attract members, even more so when there are no features like photos and videos.
This way, Clubhouse offers a set of audio discussions, podcasts and live calls. Created rooms are suggested to members according to the interests they select by creating their profiles.
However, it is only possible to join the social network through an invitation, which makes the application even more exclusive. Another “stumbling block” until a few months ago was the exclusive availability for iPhone (iOS). Since May, Android users may also download the app.
Clubhouse for doctors – advantages
In fact, Clubhouse offers advantages not only for doctors, but professionals from various fields. For example, live and audio-only content make communication more natural, with spontaneous and assertive responses. It is also a big plus for those who do not like to record videos.
One of the benefits pointed out by several doctors is to be in contact and exchange information with college friends, colleagues of the area and renowned specialists. Another advantage is the possibility to share knowledge and become a reference in your area of activity, strengthening your authority and credibility not only among fellow professionals, but also potential clients.
This is because Clubhouse for doctors can be used to create and strengthen professional relationships and also for medical marketing.
Reviewed by Paulo Schor, ophthalmologist, associate professor and director of innovation of the Federal University of São Paulo (Unifesp) and collaborator of the Faculty of Medicine of the Albert Einstein Hospital.
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Have you heard of blockchain in health? This technology is an incorruptible, decentralized and transparent data security system. It has a robust encryption that hides the IDs both from the users and owners of the information. In addition, it can only be validated by consensus and cannot be changed by a single person, without authorization of the others.
One of the key benefits of this industry is superior protection of the large amount of data. It grows stronger with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Learn more about blockchain and its promising possibilities of use in the field of health.
What blockchain is
Blockchain emerged approximately 10 years ago as an ultra secure and flawless security tool for conducting financial transactions with cryptocurrencies (digital currency) such as Bitcoin. Currently, it is evaluated as the technology with the greatest impact on the digital revolution since the appearance and popularization of the internet.
The decoding tool is based on a data structure known as a “blockchain”. Each of them has transactions with a certain number of information which only authorized people can access, change or view. Information is validated only by consensus.
It is completely private, as it hides the identification of the user and the owners of the information through complex codes due to powerful encryption. This blocks the access of unauthorized people and makes the information almost impossible to leak.
This, therefore, is the great difference of blockchain in relation to other data security systems.
It is widely used in security software and companies in various industries are already using its advantages for other purposes, such as: certification and authenticity of documents, registration of contracts and intellectual property.
In healthcare services, healthtechs have already used blockchain in solutions such as cloud data storage, where it is possible to share everything from medical research to patient information.
Blockchain in Health: key advantages
Undoubtedly, the main advantage of using blockchain in healthcare is the superior data security compared to other systems. For example, each person or institution involved in the process has an access key that decodes the information. Only the patient can allow access to his/her data. This way, he/she becomes the “guardian” of his/her own medical information. All this in an agile and non-bureaucratic way.
It enables access to the complete history of the patient and provide care in a more assertive way. For example, get more accurate diagnoses and direct to more effective treatments.
Professionals can also obtain clinical trials and new research more simply and quickly. For example, decentralized studies, done in several countries and still in secrecy, can be the data entered into a tool with blockchain and shared only with people of interest.
Other possible benefits are to control and track hospital and pharmaceutical supplies, even more so with legislation that imposes several transport and storage rules. It can also decrease problems with false drug supply.
This technology is useful to monitor diseases and predict possible epidemics.
Finally, it can be applied to pricing and payments in healthcare services. It can improve identity management, provide smart contracts, and streamline receipts with immediate transfers. For example, there are systems that allow applications to be processed in a matter of seconds instead of weeks or months.
Blockchain in health: promising tool
In fact, we can state that using blockchain in healthcare is quite promising by ensuring extreme data security, storing the patient’s medical information, and expanding access to the patient’s history, clinical trials, and still-confidential new research results.
With this, the tool can transform the industry by reorganizing operations, generating new business models, and integrating patient medical records.
Reviewed by Paulo Schor, ophthalmologist, free professor and director of innovation of the Federal University of São Paulo (Unifesp) and collaborator of the Faculty of Medicine of the Albert Einstein Hospital.
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Attracting patients is one of the most important issues on the agenda of office and clinic managers. After all, any business needs customers to exist. Including the healthcare services.
In recent years, the rise of internet has strongly changed the consumer-business relationship. Nowadays, it focuses on the needs of the human being. Therefore, it is critical to invest in the relationship with patients to meet their demands and create deeper connections.
You need to create well-segmented strategies to attract your target audience. More than that, you need to keep and build customer loyalty with the existent one. We picked 5 practical tips on how to attract patients and increase credibility and revenue of your business.
1. Register your office to Google My Business
Have you ever searched for a company on Google and received all its essential information on screen, such as phone number and opening hours? That’s Google My Business.
More than a profile with your clinic information, the app allows you to connect with customers through Google Search engine and also Google Maps, all for free.
First step: register your office with the basic data, such as address, phone number, opening hours and website. Then you can add photos of your workplace.
Patients can also make reviews and leave messages on your profile. You receive instant notifications via e-mail when they do it. Be attentive not to answer late.
Another interesting feature is the possibility to know followers and and how often they interact with the profile. For example, you can know where they are from and how many have used the registered phone to schedule the service.
Google is the largest search engine on the internet nowadays. Many people use it to search for doctors. After finding a professional of interest, they search more thoroughly, to evaluate online recommendations before setting an appointment.
2. Invest in digital marketing for doctors
We are currently experiencing the post-digital era without clear boundaries between offline and online world. We use technology all the time for research, entertainment, social interaction, virtual shopping and much more.
That’s why it’s essential to be present online, to build up and keep both relevance and authority in the market. And, thus, attract and retain more and more patients. Especially in social networks, as they offer a great potential for interaction and relationship with the public. The greater the interactions with quality, the greater the visibility of the professional.
So, it is necessary to invest in producing relevant content for each type of platform. In fact, there is no need to all the platforms, which are too many. But there is more doctor-focused social media. To help you plan your main content strategy, we’ve developed a series of articles with practical tips for Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, WhatsApp and Telegram.
3. Build the ideal patient journey
Do you know the patient journey? Basically, it is the path the patient travels towards your office. And this involves many phases, such as noticing symptoms, deciding to make an appointment, choosing doctors, receiving healthcare service and the evaluating the whole process.
Undoubtedly, this path can be easy and fast in some cases. However, most of the time, there is a long journey until one feels confident and chooses a specialist. Several aspects influence the final decision, such as complexity of the disease, quality of the professional, evaluation from other patients on the internet or close people, concern about health, inter alia.
Thus, it is essential to understand and map the journey to increase the opportunities of how to attract patients and retain existing ones for your office.
To improve it, you can:
Offer online appointment scheduling;
Have a comfortable office;
Avoid delays;
Invest in technologies;
Set a quality standard for services;
Humanize service;
Reduce waiting time gaps between the journey stages.
Check which patients made only the first appointment and did not return anymore. Or returned and never came back. It could surely be because he/she no longer needed the service or does not remember the office name and address. But, there is a chance that the patient did not like the service.
In this case, it is worth contacting the patient, by phone or e-mail, to find out the real reason and try to redeem the patient.
5. Keep a relationship with the patient
Young female doctor texting
To keep in touch with the patient, it is worth to invest in an aftercare process. For example, carry out satisfaction surveys regularly to identify bottlenecks in care and implement improvements.
Another suggestion is, the day after the appointment, send an SMS to the patient saying that you are happy to provide him/her your services, and that you are available. You can also remind him/her of the return visit, congratulate the birthday and wish a happy holiday.
In fact, SMS is just one of the ways to approach. You can also use email and WhatsApp.
By the way, e-mail allows you to send longer contents. For example, you can talk about news in the health area that interest you, give prevention tips and announce innovations of the office, inter alia.
It demonstrates your attention and continuous care for your patients. By this,they will notice your concern for their well-being, which can directly reflect the evolution of treatment.
However, ask the patient if he/she wants to receive content from the clinic and the formats he/she accepts.
And, of course, speed up the process by automated messaging systems. They are faster and ensure information security.
Reviewed by Paulo Schor, ophthalmologist, free professor and director of innovation of the Federal University of São Paulo (Unifesp) and collaborator of the Faculty of Medicine of the Albert Einstein Hospital.
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The use of robotics in health has grown increasingly in recent years. By 2025, global investment in this sector is expected to increase approximately 20%, according to a report from Zion Market Research.
The technology generates several advantages for doctors and health institutions, such as more accurate and reproducible procedures. In fact, doctors’ knowledge allied to robotics make the procedure safer, faster and reduces pain and trauma to the patient.
The technology is employed in robot surgeons and even medical software. Learn about the health benefits of robotics and how it works in areas such as surgery, healthcare and even office management.
Robots X doctors
First, robotics does not replace doctors in the healthcare field. In fact, robots only work when guided by humans.
Equipments work as an extension of the surgeon’s hand, for example. This way, they follow commands and avoid the natural tremor of a person, which is a great benefit to delicate surgeries that demand millimeter movements, mainly.
Another approach is planning of the entire procedure and monitoring the execution. Therefore, if an unforeseen event occurs, the professional can adjust at the same time.
1. Robotics in surgery
It seems like something new, but the health field started employing robotics many years ago. First surgeries with such equipments occurred in 1988, in Paris.
Ophthalmology is one of the areas in which the use of robotics has been done for the longest time. One of the first uses was treating diabetic retinopathy with laser. The technology measures the duration, size and power of each pulse. For this, the device is pre-programmed so that each laser pulse is the same as the previous one.
Nowadays, the tool is also used in refractive surgeries to correct myopia. Robots guide all the programming of the procedure of laser pulsing in the patient’s, always monitored by a specialist.
The robotics system NGENUITY uses 3D technology in high definition that greatly increases the surgeon’s view of the eye. It turns the ophthalmological surgeries more accurate. The doctor operates by looking at a high-definition 3D screen, which allows a more proper posture and reduces fatigue during the procedure.
Another ease is using digital filters to customize visualization during the procedure, increasing the image of eye structures and tissue layers.
There are also robots to carry out cataract surgery and corneal transplantation, such as the Ziemer and LensX. However, they are less used in Brazil.
Da Vinci
Several technologies have this goal nowadays. Undoubtedly, the most known is Da Vinci, the robot surgeon most used in the world. Currently, more than 5 million patients are treated. Even in Brazil.
These systems carry out minimally invasive surgeries in different procedures. One of its tools is a console – inspired by flight simulators – in which doctors visualize the high-definition 3D images and make the operative movements with their own hands, through a joystick, which are transmitted to the robot.
The doctor can move the axes for 360 degrees, reaching angles that human hands would only reach with great difficulty.
It also applies to train and requalify students, residents and specialists in attendance or within the surgical center. Thus, it is possible to analyze ethnographically the performance of the professional – who is alone during the procedure – by capturing images from a local camera.
The technology can also be operated remotely via telemedicine.
2. Robotics in healthcare
Several robots already improve medical care. Such as robot Laura, which identifies potentially dangerous generalized infections in patients and informs the medical staff. For this, the robot is connected to electronic medical records and monitors the health reports and clinical information of each patient. When it identifies any worsening or abnormality, it generates an alert. It also uses the principle of machine learning for this purpose.
Since its invention in 2016, it has helped reduce the overall mortality rate by 25%, saving 18 patients a day in institutions that work with the technology.
In ophthalmology, one of the proposals is the Adam robot, which can assist in checking primary visual acuity. This is because it identifies visual difficulty levels. In up to five minutes, it can detect diseases such as myopia, astigmatism, hyperopia and presbyopia.
Even for procedures that involve needle placement, such as taking blood and biopsy, there are robotic systems. This is the case of Veebot. It uses a pouch similar to blood pressure gauges, making the veins more visible. It then uses an infrared light and a camera to find the best vein through an image analysis software.
The depth with which the needle is pricked is pre-calculated and the whole process takes about a minute. The system succeeds in choosing the vein in 83% of cases. In addition, the procedure is less painful to the patient.
3. Robots in office management
Imagine receiving your patient with the help of a robot? Invented in Japan, Pepper is used in several countries for the reception of shops, exhibitions, public places and even in medical offices.
The robot has a human appearance: giant eyes, child’s face, arms, hands, 1.20 meters high, 30 kilos and a screen attached to the chest. One of its main features is the ability to analyze people’s emotions through facial expression and tone of voice.
It uses voice recognition technology, cameras and sensors and evaluates all this data in a system based on artificial neural networks. It is able to modify the voice, the color of the eyes, move the arms and show images on the screen according to the emotions of the person.
In fact, neither Pepper nor any other robot can replace professionals in the field. However, it helps greatly to improve care, reduce costs, carry out more precise and less invasive procedures, increasing agility and reducing pain in the patient.
Reviewed by Paulo Schor, ophthalmologist, free professor and director of innovation of the Federal University of São Paulo (Unifesp) and collaborator of the Faculty of Medicine of the Albert Einstein Hospital.
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Mydriasis is common in ophthalmological exams that require a complete visualization of the eye structure. As the practice allows to evaluate the whole extension of the lens, it helps to diagnose diseases as glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, AMD and others.
However, pupil dilation also brings some disadvantages to both doctor and patient, even more during the present pandemics. For example: less daily attendances due to the limit of people in waiting rooms, the need for a companion and discomfort to the patient.
That’s why non-mydriatic equipment earns more and more space in offices, clinics and hospitals. They assure high-quality exams, increase productivity and are, consequently, more profitable.
Read below the advantages of offering non-mydriatic exams and the devices that offer them.
Non-mydriatic: adavantages
1) Increase in the number of medical services
Complete pupil dilation requires the patient to remain in the waiting room, so that he or she can undergo the exam. This process takes considerable time. More than that, a companion is requiretd.
This already occupies two seats that could receive other people, for example. In addition, patients in the waiting room must keep adequate distancing, which decreases the full amount of people allowed in the environment.
The non-mydriatic exam eliminates the waiting time of both the eye drops effect and the exam itself, decreases the service length and the need of a companion for the patient.
That is: more schedule and more space in the office, so that you can attend more patients!
2) High-quality exam
Removing mydriasis from some ophthalmological exams does not affect the quality of the result. On the contrary, some non-mydriatic equipments offer even more sharpness in eye fundus images.
They invest in technologies that capture images through the patient’s natural dilation. Including in places with low light.
3) Less use of anesthetic eye drops
Mydriatic exams also reduce the use of anesthetic eye drops in clinics. They reduce costs with this material – made to avoid burning in patients’ eyes – which is more expensive than the non-anesthetic product.
4) Comfortable and quick exams for children
Fundus imaging is rare in children. When necessary, pupil dilation brings discomfort to the little ones. With the farewell to mydriasis, exam speed and well-being increase.
Another interesting possibility for non-mydriatic exams is the early eye-fundus imaging, so that the evolution may be followed throughout adult life.
5) Patient comfort
Non-mydriatic exam is undoubtedly advantageous to the patient: less discomfort with pupil dilation, no need to find available companion and less time in office. The latter advantages are even more relevant with the pandemic.
6) More safety to carry out the exam
In fact it is quite safe for the patient to dilate the pupil for ophthalmological exams. However, reactions as allergy to eye drops, dizziness or malaise may occur in some cases. Graver complications may occur very scarcely such as acute glaucoma crisis, mainly in patients with narrow anterior chamber angle, mainly related to a high degree of myopia (six degrees or higher).
Since possible reactions are not assertively predictable, removing mydriasis from some exams eliminates the risk of complications.
Non-mydriatic – devices
Several non-mydriatic devices are available on the market, from tabletop to portable. Phelcom Eyer smartdevice is one of them.
Phelcom Eyer is the first handheld fundus camera with the quality of a tabletop equipment. Coupled to the smartphone, it carries out high-quality retina exams, without need of pupil dilation and in less than a minute.
Since it is easily operable, even a minimally trained healthcare professional is able to carry out the exam.
The technology includes the Autofocus function, compensating refractive errors from -15D to +20D, allowing high detail retinal scans.. It utilizes the patient’s natural dilation and can capture images even in low light environments.
Another functionality are the panoramic exams with a visual field over 100 degrees, since Eyer has fixation targets that help panoramic capture and imaging.
It is also connected to an online platform, Eyer Cloud, which stores and organizes all the exams in a cloud system.
Learn the main features of this technology:
Type: Non-mydriatic digital fundus camera
Visual field: 45 degrees
Resolution: 12-Mega-Pixel Sensor
Exams: Colour, Red-free and Anterior Segment
Internal fixation targets: 9 fixation targets for peripheral mapping
Focus: -15D to +20D with autofocus
Pupil: Minimum size 3mm
Format: JPEG, PDF and DICOM
Conclusion
Non-mydriatic exams undoubtedly offer various benefits to doctors: quick exams, with more attendances and a more profitable office; high-quality results; cost reduction with anesthetic eye drops; faster exams for children and safer exams.
Follow Phelcom’s blog for main news on technologies in exams.
In fact, artificial intelligence in the diagnostic medicine has been showing positive and promising results. More than that, the development of more and more innovative software has been revolutionizing the sector by delivering more speed, precision, quality, accessibility and cost reduction to patients, professionals and institutions involved.
Undoubtedly, the use of computerized systems and computational symbols in the prediction and imitation of human behavior directly impacts the patient health and the cost reduction in treatments, among other numerous benefits.
Learn about 4 technologies that apply artificial intelligence in the diagnostic medicine: Eyer handheld fundus camera, remote reporting software, breast cancer genetic test and mammography software.
1. Eyer handheld fundus camera
The Eyer handheld fundus camera was one of the main equipments used in the project “Unidos pelo Diabetes em Ação, in Itabuna (BA), Brazil.
Connected to a smartphone, Eyer handheld fundus camera carries out high-quality retinal exams, in only a few minutes, with no need to dilate the pupil. Integrated with an online platform, the data is automatically sent and can be analyzed by a specialist anywhere in the world. That is, it allows remote diagnosis.
Learn about the equipment functionalities:
High-quality retinal exams by smartphone;
Accurate and fast diagnostics;
Lower cost compared to traditional fundus cameras;
Portability, which allows exams in several locations;
Democratization of Retina exams, mainly in places with low infrastructure of quality services in the area, such as doctors, health professionals, equipment, medicines, etc;
Faster service through computerized systems integrated to an online platform accessible through computers, smartphones and tablets;
Exams are easier to carry out in clinics and health centers;
Diagnosis made by specialists and leading professionals from anywhere in the world;
Reduction of service time and operational costs;
Decrease in the displacement of patients to hospitals and large urban centers;
Improvement in the quality of the issued reports;
No use of eye drops for pupil dilation;
Increased prevention and early diagnosis of diseases such as diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, cataract, macular degeneration, retinoblastoma, retinal detachment, retinopathy of prematurity and blindness, inter alia.
In Brazil, the startup Phelcom Technologies offers the Phelcom Eyer handheld fundus camera . In addition, it also offers the online platform Eyer Cloud , which allows storing and managing patient exams. It ensures data backup on a secure server and the physician has all data organized in a friendly, functional and intuitive interface.
Remote reporting software
Some remote reporting software enable remote diagnosis and work with machine learning, an AI application. In Portuguese, the term means “machine learning”.
How does it work? Basically, it collects data, learns from it and improves automatically – without necessarily being programmed.
In the diagnostic medicine, the tool evaluates an extensive database of patients’ symptoms to find patterns for each illness. The software can check which disease the individual has, according to the evidence it presents.
There are some systems available in Brazil. Portal Telemedicina, for example, analytically compares face-to-face exams to similar cases in a database with 30 million images and exams.
The platform develops medical recommendations with reliable and accurate criteria when using Deep Learning. This method is based on complex algorithms that copies our brain neural net, giving the system an ability to detect medical findings at the superhuman level.
If the medical exam and the algorithm recommendation do not match, it sends the exam to three other specialists for a more detailed evaluation. The program even incorporates learning into each report issued, accumulating clinical repertoire in its database.
Another innovative aspect is its capacity to perform automatic exam screening allowing emergency cases to take priority in the doctor’s queue.
Software for mammography reports
Imagine accurately identifying the location of the breast with a suspicious change and, on top of that, easing the biopsy. Some artificial intelligence software are able to detect breast cancer more accurately.
One of them can predict unusual patterns of the mammography image and point out the region that demands further inquiry. American startup Dasa, in partnership with CureMetrix, created the algorithm.
Another software developed by Google may be the “second medical opinion” on the mammography. This is because the algorithm showed 11.5% more hits in relation to human analysis.
However, when evaluated by two doctors, humans show the same result as the machine. And, as it is common for two experts to analyze the image, Google tool can be the “second expert”.
Genetic testing – EndoPredict
Artificial intelligence in diagnostic medicine is also managing to predict the development of breast cancer and possible metastasis for the years to come.
The EndoPredict genetic test, for example, evaluates 12 tumor tissue genes related to the probability of recurrence. The result is a score that indicates whether the chance of the cancer to spread elsewhere in the body is high or low over the next ten years. Thus, it avoided chemotherapy in 70% of patients with negative nodules in clinical studies.
However, the test is indicated only for recent diagnoses of the disease and at an early stage. Moreover, positive for estrogen receptors and negative for HER2/neu protein.
The test is offered exclusively by GeneOne, Dasa genomics laboratory.
With more than 90,000 exam evaluations in the database, the AI has learned the subtle patterns in the breast tissue that are malignant tumor precursors.
The team model was significantly better at predicting risk than existing approaches. It accurately positioned 31% of all cancer patients in its highest risk category, compared to only 18% of traditional models.
Conclusion
Artificial intelligence in diagnostic medicine will surely revolutionize the area and help doctors and health services to increase productivity and attend more people.
Undoubtedly, it is also essential to democratize access to healthcare. Mainly in places with low infrastructure of quality services in the area, such as doctors, health professionals, equipment, medicines etc;
In fact, intelligent algorithms will not replace doctors who specialize in this type of diagnosis. However, it can serve as support, offering safer and more accurate reports.
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