PDA Software Podcasts & Osteopathic Medicine
Content designed specifically for the osteopathic community is flourishing as osteopathic family physicians embrace PDA's and podcasts.
By Belinda Bombei
According to the professors at the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine (NYCOM),“the future is high-tech, and we’re taking a lead role in teaching those who will practice medicine tomorrow,” says Dr. Barbara Ross-Lee, vice president of NYCOM.
NYCOM digitally streams video of all lectures. “Each day, we tape all the lectures and make them available on the Web for easy access by students, anywhere, anytime,” says Dr. Chellappa Kumar, chief information officer of NYCOM and an associate professor. Students can either download the videos to their computer or download to their video iPod and watch them whenever and wherever it is convenient.
Negin Gohari, a second-year medical student, says she learns best watching the streaming videos. “My focus is better,” she says. “In the lecture halls, I get distracted, but with the videos, I can pause, rewind and fast forward, helping me to take better notes and understand the material.”
Streaming videos also help NYCOM stay in close contact with third- and fourth-year students who are off-campus clerking at clinics and hospitals nationwide. These students are provided with a personal digital assistant (PDA) at the end of their second year, allowing them to check medical information, organize their schedules and communicate their progress with professors.
PDAs have been shown to aid diagnosis, and drug selection and some studies have concluded that their use by patients to record symptoms improves the effectiveness of communication with hospitals during follow-up.
Shan Amed, DO (NYCOM ‘02) is enthusiastic about the progress he has seen at NYCOM. He returns to his alma mater often as a guest lecturer and says, “It’s a completely different world. All of this technology is an asset to the learning process.”
Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment Guide Goes Digital
Tired of toting your OMT guide in your coat pocket? Recently, the OMT guide has gone digital with a PDA version.
Based on the book, Pocket OMT Manual – The Stiles Approach by Edward G. Stiles, DO, Pocket OMT for Windows Desktop and Pocket OMT for Windows Mobile 5© are the latest versions available to osteopathic physicians.
“This software is truly a major leap forward in osteopathic education. Now students, residents, and practitioners alike have access to comprehensive OMT reference without stuffing their white coat with yet another book,” said Edward G. Stiles, DO.
Pocket OMT covers a full range of osteopathic musculoskeletal techniques. The program features all major treatment modalities, all major anatomical regions, and complete description of all major diagnoses. Pocket OMT is searchable by topic and bodily dysfunction—returning diagnostic and treatment information with images.
Pocket OMT is available as a free trial version and a full version at pocketomt.com.
ACOFP has negotiated a reduced rate for ACOFP student members. Students need to enter the discount code dQeRPf when purchasing a license key for the software. The discounted price is $42 for a single license key (Windows Mobile or Windows Desktop) or $55 for two license keys for the bundle.
Podcasts
The word “podcasting” combines the words “broadcasting” and “iPod.” The most popular format of a podcast is MP3. MP3’s were designed to greatly reduce the amount of data required to represent audio, yet still sound like a faithful reproduction of the original uncompressed audio to most listeners. In popular usage, MP3 also refers to files of sound or music recordings stored in the MP3 format on computers.1
Medical Podcast Resources
The range and variety of health podcasts is enormous. The many uses include audio blogs, pods by patients for patients, patient education from hospitals, general news service broadcasts and articles, and even extended into the realm of providing therapy.
Osteopathic Podcasts
The Texas Tech Medcast is a podcast series for osteopathic medical residents, medical students, practicing physicians, and others involved in medical education and high quality, patient-centered primary care. The Texas Tech Medcast Series is available as a subscription or as individual episodes at no charge from the Apple iTunes Music Store. (apple.com/itunes/ - search Texas Tech or Medcast).
The Texas Tech Podcast Series includes
The American Osteopathic Association offers a series of benefits Podcasts. Simply e-mail ckraus@osteopathic.org with “Podcast Subscription” as the subject and an e-mail containing the new podcast will be sent on day 15 of each month.
Previous topics covered include:
The Future of Medical Podcasts
Podcasting is the start of a new medical media revolution that is empowering osteopathic family physicians with the ability to freely create and distribute information.
Ever multiplying problems demand physician’s attention in practice. Embracing new technologies and strategies will enable physicians to handle and solve these problems while re-invigorating themselves. “If you set up a podcast and blog at your website, you will generate a community around it…and this will re-energize you, and remind you why you entered medicine in the first place,” said a California physician, doing both full time private practice and advising in an academic setting while hosting podcastingformedicalprofessonals.com.
The challenge now is which ACOFP member will step forward and develop podcastingforofps.com. The development to date of osteopathic PDA software and podcasts is encouraging, but the potential is limitless.
Visit the ACOFP Media Section for Podcast and PDA resources.
Belinda Bombei is the medical editor for tweakmywords.com and has over 14 years of editing experience, including five years of experience editing osteopathic medical articles. She provides suggestions to transform osteopathic medical content from good to outstanding, producing an article worthy of publication and recognition.
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