http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/content/MAR-278824/How-iPads-Improve-the-Patient-Experience

iPads and patients…an idea beginning to percolate…though we have been first!

A floor that can “read” your footprints and call 911 for an emergency…a new patent by IBM!

http://mashable.com/2012/04/11/ibm-smart-floor/

Wow!

TED  the website of great talks (18 minutes or less) has now moved to the classroom and launched:

TED ED

This has to be an amazing new feature for those children who miss a lot of school.

I only wish all our CF Kids had iPads!

This is my personal favorite app!  I use it whenever I listen to a speaker, go to the doctors, or just know someone is going to say something I need to remember!

I know there are different laws in different states, whether you have to tell someone they are being recorded.

I think this would be a great app for a long CF visit, when you hear from many different specialists and need to review and remember all the directions!

It has good reviews and for 4.99…I think it is a bargain~

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/audionote-notepad-voice-recorder/id369820957?mt=8

Last week we mailed two iPad2s
The lucky recipients are:
Akron Children’s Hospital, Lewis H. Walker Cystic Fibrosis Center
and
West Virginia University

We look forward to hearing how they are used in the Centers.

Be sure and read my blog about Securing the iPads.

Many of you may be aware our new non-profit CFTechnology, sends iPad2s to patients with cystic fibrosis and CFCenters.  Last week, we had bad news from one of the centers: The iPad2 was STOLEN!

Just when the hospital was trying to figure out what to do with it, how to handle the cleaning (must be kept germ free), and of course the security; it was GONE!

The very same hospital secures iPads in their child life center: MacGyvering with doggie leashes!

But since the iPad and other tablets are showing up in health centers more and more and even in operating rooms, security is of utmost importance.

Security Measures to take with the iPad:

1. Copy the serial number and keep it in a safe place. It is on the back of the iPad. The numbers are also on the box the iPad comes in, so if the iPad is lost, you may want to keep the box.  (The HCP at the hospital, with the stolen iPad, had the box and was able to report the stolen item by serial number to the police).
2. Download a security app like “find my iPhone” (which will find your iPad also).  It will help you locate your missing device on a map. You can then choose to display a message or play a sound, remotely lock your device, or erase your data on it.
3. Make a schedule to backup(sync) your data to your personal computer.
4. If you have an iPhone, BIKN (pronounced beacon) allows you to attach tiny tags to “stuff you care about”. Once your iPhone is in its BiKN smart case, the myBiKN app will enable you to create a wireless network for your stuff. Just connect your keys, bag, iPad, camera, kitty cat – whatever you don’t want to lose – to a BiKN tag.
5. Maclocks has a variety of security cables for the iPad and even an adjustable security stand for iPad2s.  Maybe this one could be moved around hospital rooms, providing germ free protection (of course!)
6. For a large security system, (1000 or more devices), AirWatch provides comprehensive mobile security, mobile device management, and application management solution in a single, integrated console.

Hopefully, these ideas will help you manage your tablets and safeguard all your treasured data.  If a device is lost or stolen, it’s important to deactivate and erase the device. It’s also a good idea to have a policy in place that will wipe the device after a defined number of failed passcode attempts—a key deterrent against attempts to gain unauthorized access to the device. Apple offers these and more suggestions about securing the actual data on the iPad for business and personal use.

These are some of the lessons we learned from the “stolen iPad2”.  For the future, along with a sticker placed on the iPad2 claiming:  “Donated by CFTechnology, we will add a sticker saying:

Don’t steal this iPad, it is Secured in the iCloud!

Peter and I are getting tickets for Blue Man’s Group playing off Broadway..This video gives some highlights and seems great for thinking differently about education.  Many of our CF kids are missing lots of school and we have to keep our minds and hearts open to design the best ways to help them!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qw3JqHYNB2I

I know many of our CF patients miss lots of school.

I think BrainPop is a great app for those at home or in the hospital.

My grandkids love it.  I am helping one of them, the nine year old, develop his own curriculum.  He thinks school is “wasting” his time.

I am sure he can pass the 4th grade, the dilemma is in deciding whether to let him “follow his dreams”…which are many, or drilling down to the prescribed curriculum.

My first look is with BrainPop.  Ennio is looking into finding the curriculum for 4th grade, so we can make sure it is covered.

I would appreciate any input from all you HomeSchool specialists!

Please know that three iPad2s and anti microbial covers are being sent to CFCenters because of members like you.

The first one is going to Washington State.

By clicking here, you can see the states that have donated so far.

If you would like to recommend a center for receiving the iPad2, please have your center fill out this form.

Thanks for all your generosity and have a wonderful holiday!

Salt and Light!

Jeanne

I am obsessed with predicting and imagining where technology might lead us, and I believe it is leading pharma to a greater partnership with patients.

Smart pharmas are always working to improve their relationship with patients, to ensure that patients see themselves not only as product consumers but also as product partners. A new common ground where this partnership might be established is in the gamification medium. Gamification is the process of using game thinking and game mechanics to solve problems and engage audiences.

Half a billion people play Angry Birds, by Rovio, and that game model may be the medium for pharma-patient connections.

Games of destruction are compelling and I am one of the five hundred million downloaders. I joined the mayhem, even though my stomach sank, as the little wingless red birds lined up and jumped into my slingshot aimed at the pigs that had stolen their eggs. The little birds would explode in the process as well.

I was conflicted, especially because my husband and I are birders. How different this scenario is from poet Mary Oliver’s gratitude for red birds firing up the winter landscape. I wondered if there could be a practical, positive use for a game like Angry Birds, perhaps among a community of chronically ill patients. For example, people with cystic fibrosis fight “angry bugs” like pseudomonas aeruginosa, MRSA, mycobacterium avium complex, C-difficile, and others all the time.

Recently, I listened to Gabe Zichermann’s talk on how games make kids smarter and I began wrapping my imagination around my Angry Birds dilemma.

Gabe discussed gamification and the way kids learn. I wondered if we could “fire up” the interior landscape and the imaginations of sick patients by transforming a game like Angry Birds and morphing the pigs into “angry bugs” and the birds into an antibiotic armory? The skeleton of an already successful game like Angry Birds could be a model for pharma to interface with the patient audience.

Pharma could seek to apply the five criteria of fluid intelligence as described by Andrea Kuszewski in a talk at Harvard and referenced by Gabe in his TED talk:

Seek novelty. Enticing patients in a game format to learn more about their disease and the treatments is non-threatening and fun. People are hardwired to enjoy games.  Patients may be hardwired to fear hospital stays, needles, medications, and painful treatments.

Challenge yourself. Chronic illness already creates unique challenges for every patient, including weariness, apathy, and fear. Playing games with challenging levels of achievement around science and correct treatment procedures could teach and encourage adherence.

Think creatively. Creativity should induce a revised perspective, allowing a patient to envision the landscape of the disease and treatment. The games should have self-expanding levels of knowledge and rewards as players progress.

Do things the hard way. Struggle is nothing new for a chronically ill community, but this could be a way to acknowledge patients’ efforts and adherence challenges.

Network. A social network game group would help all the stakeholders find others in similar circumstances. They could form teams in which patients, families, peers, centers, HCPs, scientists, and pharma engage the disease on the playing field in positive, competitive, and collaborative interactions.

I envision images from the treatment regimens of chronically ill patients (nebulizers, vials, petri dishes and more) being used in clever games that do not make light of the illness but rather encourage adherence and understanding. Both children and adults can benefit from comprehending the cause and effect processes in proper treatment regimens. Gamification will teach patients how to recognize and control symptoms and encourage pro-activity among patients and other stakeholders.

Through gamification, patients could move to new levels of understanding of their diseases and treatment. Greater adherence and quality of life may be the outcome.

Jeanne Barnett is a patient advocate on CysticFibrosis.com and on a new non-profit CFTechnology.