Attempting to integrate the technology we use on a daily basis into the field of medicine is not new. In fact Microsoft has expressed interest in deploying their Kinect in the operating theatre and for use in group therapy sessions. Medtronic recently announced the launch of the CareLink Mobile Application, which the company calls the first mobile application that pairs with implantable cardiac devices, allowing doctors to monitor their patients remotely.
The CareLink Mobile Application enables clinicians and physicians who are authorized, to gain access to cardiac device diagnostic information and patient data directly from their mobile devices. This is believed to result in more proactive patient care.
Suneet Mittal, M.D., director of electrophysiology at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center summed the usefulness of the app in one sentence, which she claims is “helping me to respond quicker to clinical events and provide more proactive patient care, which, as a health care provider, is my ultimate goal.”
We’re not sure if patients themselves will have access to the status of their implants or patient data, but either way this app is looking up to be rather useful, but as it stands it is only available on iOS devices, although Medtronic is supposedly looking into porting those apps over to Blackberry and Android devices in the future.