Join me for #mHealth chat tweet chat on April 11, 12:00 ET

Mark your calendars now!

In the upcoming #mHealthchat TweetChat on Thursday, April 11, Joseph Kim, M.D., MPH, President of MCM Education and mobile health expert contributor for SearchHealthIT.com’s Health IT Exchange, will be on hand to discuss the rapidly changing mHealth landscape and answer your most pressing questions about moving mobile adoption forward throughout the industry.

Follow @DrJosephKim on Twitter now!

• What: #mHealthchat
• When: Thursday, April 11, 2013, 12:00 – 1:00 ET
• Where: The Twittersphere, using #mHealthchat

With additional thought leadership from John P. Donohue, Associate Chief Information Officer (CIO) at University of Pennsylvania Health System, we’ll spend 60 minutes discussing a variety of topics around the challenges, opportunities and best practices for mHealth usage and implementation.

Follow @JohnDonohue17 on Twitter now!

We will cover the following topics:

T1: BYOD security best practices, solutions: Mobile device management (MDM) solutions. Privacy and security best practices for mobile health implementation and telemedicine initiatives. Impact of and concerns around the cloud in this growing arena?

T2: Impact of HIPAA omnibus rule on BYOD and mHealth privacy and security strategy? What are the 3 top things to check NOW to make sure your compliance team is ready for September deadlines so you have time to fix glaring weaknesses, specific to BYOD?

T3: Patient engagement: How are e-patients helping, or hindering, with mobile management frameworks? Learning from the empowered, engaged digital patient and ensuring a positive patient experience through telemedicine and mobile health tools.

T4: Future of mHealth: Where are we going? What will we see in 2013 or 2014? Impact of recent FDA announcements?

Follow along at #mHealthchat and get your questions ready for Thursday, April 11, 12:00 – 1:00 ET!

And be sure to follow @HITExchange and @SearchHealthIT for even more dynamic health care IT conversations and all of our site updates.

Don't miss the HP Healthcare Mobility Tweet Up at #HIMSS13

Are you attending the HIMSS conference next month in New Orleans?

Join me on Monday, March 4 at the HP Healthcare Mobility Tweet Up at #HIMSS13

When: Monday, March 4, 2013 at 3:00 PM (CST)
Where: HP booth #1627 at the 2013 HIMSS Conference
Win some prizes!

RSVP For the HP Healthcare Mobility Tweet Up Here

Join us for #mHealthchat on 9/13 at noon ET

I hope you'll join us on Twitter for #mHealthchat on 9/13 at noon ET. Let's discuss what's happening in the mobile health space.

What: #mHealthchat
When: Thursday, September 13, 2012, 12:00 - 1:00 ET
Where: The Twittersphere, using #mHealthchat

I'll be working with SearchHealthIT and Rasu Shrestha, M.D., VP of medical information technology and radiologist at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

More information about this Twitter chat can be found here.

Does Foursquare have application in medicine or health care?

I'm an avid user of Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. I've been a late adopter of Foursquare but a few weeks ago, I decided to take the plunge and see if I could see whether it made any sense to try Foursquare. I often speak at conferences about social media, so it would only make sense for me to get on Foursquare and use it for a while. I have to admit that I've been pleasantly surprised by some of the things I've seen so far and I think I could make an argument that the medical and health care community could learn quite a bit from this rather simple social media app.

Here's how foursquare is described on their site:

foursquare makes the real world easier to use. We build tools that help you keep up with friends, discover what’s nearby, save money and unlock deals. Whether you’re setting off on a trip around the world, coordinating a night out with friends, or trying to pick out the best dish at your local restaurant, foursquare is the perfect companion.

Now, there are plenty of other apps that provide similar services. For instance, Facebook has the "check in" function. But, most people don't use Facebook to check in to places. On Foursquare, you can view who else is currently checked into a place. This can be both good and bad (it really depends on your comfort level with your personal privacy). When you check in using Foursquare, you're effectively telling the world (even though privacy settings can get adjusted).

Search #FDAApps to read about the FDA Twitter chat regarding mobile apps

The FDA held a Twitter chat yesterday on mobile apps. Search for the hashtag “#FDAApps” to view comments, tweets, and short discussions regarding the FDA and mobile apps.

FDA's Twitter account is @FDADeviceInfo.

The most active users of mobile socialization are…

Women ages 35 to 54. Is that what you were expecting, or does that surprise you?

The most active users of mobile socialization are women ages 35 to 54. Out of the 600 million+ Facebook users out there, a third of them are accessing Facebook using the Facebook mobile app. Out of the 165 million+ Twitter users, half are using a Twitter mobile app.

Now, what about the medical community? Would we expect to see similar statistics? Or, is there a different demographic of medical professionals who are active users of mobile socialization?

TweetDeck Releases Android App

TweetDeck released their Android app yesterday. TweetDeck for Android is now available for free in Android Market. I wasn't involved in the beta testing phase of TweetDeck for Android, but downloading the official app today so that I can start using it on my Droid X.

Are you on Twitter? Make sure forget to follow me: @DrJosephKim

Smartphone use in the world of oncology

How are oncologists using smartphones? Let's take a look at an article on CancerNetwork.com titled, "Smartphones hustle to maintain pace with rapid rate of change in oncology."

Here are some snippets from that story:

"Oncology is one of the few fields in medicine where things are changing at a very rapid pace, with protocols and drug regimens and research actually changing day to day the way you treat your patients," said Tom Giannulli, MD, chief medical information officer for Epocrates. "In that group of physicians, keeping in touch is a much higher priority than for your average family practitioner with respect to researching new developments."

More than 40% of oncologists reported avoiding at least two errors per week with Epocrates products, according to a recent survey by Epocrates. Forty-seven percent reported saving 20 minutes or more per day by reaching into their pockets rather than going to their desks to look up information.

"Mobile devices have quickly become a preferred vehicle for physicians to access clinical information due to their ease of use and inherent portability," added Dr. D'Amico, who is also director of clinical oncology at Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center in Durham, N.C.

Wafik S. El-Deiry, MD, PhD, chief of hematology/oncology at Penn State Hershey Cancer Institute in Hershey, said he uses Twitter to tell colleagues about advances in genetics and therapies related to cancer.

Given that the field of oncology is always evolving with new targeted therapies and treatment options, it's an area where smartphones will truly benefit clinicians who are caring for patients. I wonder how many smartphone-related abstracts will be presented at ASCO next year.

Twitter apps for Windows Mobile

I realize that Windows Phone 7 is coming out at the end of the year, so all these apps written for Windows Mobile 6.5 probably won't run on the brand new Windows Phone 7. However, let me write about Twitter apps for those of you who may be hanging on to your Windows Mobile smartphones for a bit longer.

TouchTwit, MoTweets, and Twikini are some of the more popular Twitter apps for Windows Mobile. I've tried all of these and I still don't have a favorite Twitter app for Windows Mobile. Maybe that's because Twitter hasn't released an official app for Windows Mobile. I still meet so many physicians and medical students who don't understand Twitter. How can you live in modern society and be uninformed about Twitter?

Speaking of Twitter, don't forget to follow me: @DrJosephKim

Twitter for Android - it's official

There's now an official Twitter app for Android smartphone users. You'll see it when you open the Android Market. Twitter is a great way to stay connected with others and to share vital information. I encourage you to follow me on Twitter (@DrJosephKim)

Speaking of Twitter, there are still many physicians who don't understand the value of Twitter. Of course, many of these also don't use Facebook or LinkedIn, so it can be a bit challenging to explain social media.

Don't want to install an app to Tweet? Then visit: http://mobile.twitter.com on your mobile phone.

Thanks @Epocrates for mentioning my blog in the Advocate Spotlight

Thanks to those at Epocrates for mentioning my blog in the Epocrates Advocate Spring Newsletter. MedicalSmartphones.com was featured in the Advocate Spotlight.

If you're an Epocrates user, sure to show your support by:

• Following @Epocrates on Twitter: http://twitter.com/epocrates
• Becoming a fan on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Epocrates
• Watching Epocrates videos on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/epocratespr

How to Write a Smartphone App Review

This is a guest post by Greg Friese, MS, NREMT-P. If you're interested in submitting a guest post, please contact me.

How to Write an App Review 

Amazon book and product reviews have changed the way I shop. Instead of reading the publishers description I immediately scroll to reviews from other shoppers. I read the five and one star comments to learn the best and the worst about a product. Since smartphone apps require time to select, download, install, and learn a well written review helps me decide if an app is worth my time and effort which is often secondary to the negligible price of the app.

A smartphone app review is a good topic for your own blog or to submit as a guest post to blogs in your niche. Reviews tell readers about the apps you find useful. This is the format I use and recommend for organizing an app review:

My Verizon Forum user profile

I decided to create a user profile on the Verizon Wireless forums. You can view my profile here:
http://community.vzw.com/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/50600

I'm using DrJosephKim as my user name on the Verizon forums. This is also my Twitter user name @DrJosephKim and you can view all my blogs here: http://www.DrJosephKim.com

Epocrates giving free Premium Subscriptions to clinicians heading to Haiti

Epocrates is giving free Premium Subscriptions to clinicians heading to Haiti. If you're a health care professional and you're heading to Haiti to provide relief support, contact Epocrates to get a free Premium Subscription to Epocrates.

How can you contact Epocrates if you're traveling to Haiti? Here are 3 ways to contact Epocrates:

• Connect via the Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/Epocrates
• Use Twitter and Reply @epocrates
• Or, contact Epocrates via http://www.epocrates.com/support

Thanks to Epocrates for supporting all those clinicians who are volunteering to help those in Haiti.

T-Mobile service is down in the USA

If you follow T-Mobile USA on Twitter (@tmobile_usa), you'll know that they had some service disruptions today. If you don't follow T-Mobile, then you may be wondering why you haven't gotten many phone calls today.

Earlier today, they sent this tweet:

All – We’re aware of the current service disruption. Our rapid response teams have been mobilized to restore service as quickly as possible.

The most recent tweet was:

We’re making good progress restoring voice and messaging service to affected customers...

UPDATE 11/03/2009 6:00 PM PST:

We’re making good progress restoring voice and messaging service to affected customers.
At this time, approximately 5 percent of T-Mobile customers are experiencing service disruptions.

Issues began at approximately 5:30 p.m. Eastern time. Our rapid response team is working continuously to fully resolve this disruption.

We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience that this has caused our customers.

How do you organize your social networks?

When it comes to social media and social networking websites, I mainly use Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. These days, people have accounts with Facebook, LinkedIn, Flickr, Friendster, Twitter, AIM, MSN Messenger & Yahoo! Messenger. How do they keep up with all these accounts when they're out and about? I use a few social media clients on my smartphone, but I don't have everything under one roof. Here's something to consider: OrSiSo stands for Organize, Simplify, Socialize and is a ground breaking new software tool which helps you connect to multiple social networks from one place. OrSiSo connects you to your friends on some of the most popular social networks including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Bebo, Friendster and Flickr; as well as offers chat integration across multiple IM platforms including Facebook Chat, GTalk, MSN, Yahoo! and AOL.

OrSiSo has several unique features, including:

· Single status update for all networks, choose the same status or a different one for each network.
· Photo album browsing and viewing
· Pop-up notifications to let you know when new information is added
· The ability to merge friends who have profiles on multiple networks into one contact
· Grouping of friends into different levels of closeness so you can filter the information that is most important to you.

At OrSiSo’s core lies SocialCraft™, an adaptive algorithm that prioritizes information based on relevance and closeness to you in real time; helping you to keep up-to-date with your most relevant friends and contacts across all their social networks and giving you more time to socialize both online and offline. You can download OrSiSo from their website, follow them on Twitter and become a fan on their Facebook page.

Smartphones on the beach

You can guess where I'm spending my Labor Day weekend. At the beach, I see so many young people using smartphones. I'm taking about high school students. They're carrying iPhones, BlackBerries, and even smartphones running Windows Mobile. It must be tough to keep up with the "cool crowd" unless you carry a smartphone in high school.

It's difficult to find people reading a book at the beach. Everyone is on their smartphone texting (SMS and soon MMS) away. Or, they're browsing mobile web pages, sending tweets on Twitter, or simply catching up with all their e-mail. Even corporate executives are out there trying to keep up with their workload as they respond to important e-mails. I caught a couple of people using their laptops or netbooks on the beach (they were tethering to get online).

Vacationing simply isn't the same anymore. You can't escape once you have a smartphone. If high school students are becoming dependent on these devices, then what will the world look like in a few years?

Top posts for July on Medical Smartphones

At the end of July, I decided that it was time for me to get a new smartphone. It hasn't arrived yet, but you can expect a ton of posts regarding the BlackBerry Storm in August. I even though about renaming MedicalSmartphones.com to MedicalBlackBerry.com, but I decided that in a few years, the BlackBerry will simply be considered another smartphone. Who knows, maybe the iPhone will infiltrate the corporate world and beat out the BlackBerry.

I want to thank those who submitted a guest post this month. Here are the top posts for July:

1. What's the Best Smartphone for Physicians?

2. 7 Useful, Free iPhone Apps for Medical Professionals

3. Best smartphone operating systems for physicians

4. Does Epocrates run on a BlackBerry?

5. Medical apps for the iPhone - how far have we come?

6. Tethering on Verizon Wireless

7. Epocrates on the BlackBerry

8. Apple iPhone, BlackBerry Storm, or Palm Pre?

9. Free Skyscape Medical Software

10. Top Free Medical iPhone Application

44% of my site traffic comes from search engines. What are people looking for? Also, Twitter continues to lead the pack as my #1 referring website, thanks to my 17,000+ followers. I gained roughly 4,000 followers in the month of July, and that includes the 500+ I lost when Twitter removed spammers. What will August look like?

TweetCaster (by Handmark) for BlackBerry

Does it seem like everyone is using Twitter? Are you looking for a Twitter client for your BlackBerry? Perhaps you should try TweetCaster by Handmark. Send a tweet and get it for free!

Here are some of the features:

* Toggle between accounts
* URL shortening
* Picture sharing
* One-step @reply and RT
* GPS locator to find Twitter friends near you
* Real-time trending topics list

If you use Twitter, I hope you'll find this application useful. You can get TweetCaster here. Make sure to follow @DrJosephKim

Twitter on the Palm Pre with Spaz

Do you Twitter? If you have a Palm Pre running webOS, then you may want to try Spaz. It's a Twitter client that's currently in free beta mode. The final version will cost $3. If you prefer to use your mobile web browser, just point it to: m.twitter.com

m.twitter.com will work on any mobile web browser. If you try it on a standard browser, just click on the button that says: "View Twitter in: Standard"

I'm still waiting for TweetDeck to become available for more mobile devices. Currently, TweetDeck is only available for the PC and the Apple iPhone. Make sure to follow me (@DrJosephKim) on Twitter.