There seems to be an iPad application, over 65,000 and counting, for almost anything to make one’s daily life more manageable, efficient and entertaining. Today, health care professionals can also turn to iPad apps for educational purposes and as decision-making tools. From medical calculators to drug reference guides, physicians and other health care providers have a valuable resource at their fingertips–knowledge.
Mark Ereth, M.D., Mayo Clinic cardio/thoracic anesthesiologist, gave over 200 physicians and health care providers the opportunity to test a new blood management iPad application at the TransFuse 2011 conference (Transformative Fusion of Innovative Blood Management Technologies). The conference, which was jointly-sponsored by Mayo Clinic and Cleveland Clinic, took place April 14-15. The new iPad application, created in collaboration with the Center of Innovation at Mayo Clinic, will be initially used to educate and challenge clinicians as to the best blood transfusion threshold practices.
Dr. Ereth explained how the application provides a game format of fourteen different clinical scenarios where the user receives points for making the best transfusion decision. Users accumulate points for such tasks as acquiring medical history and interacting with the application’s computerized clinicians.
Beyond educational purposes, the iPad app can also be used as a tool for establishing clinical consensus for transfusion practices amongst a particular group of patients. Dr. Ereth emphasized how physicians need to develop such clinical consensus at the local level rather than just relying on broad, national guidelines. Thus, reaching local consensus helps health care professionals to better understand how different medical professionals approach blood management.
Interested TransFuse conference attendees had a first-hand opportunity to beta test the new application. They gathered around tables and discussed their impressions with one another. Critical care registered nurses Michelle Anderson, Eva Caruso and Jane Sedestrom, all agreed that the application promotes teamwork and makes learning effective using the game format since, “we are competitive and like to earn points!”
The blood management iPad application provides another effective tool for health care professionals who prescribe blood products to see how a more conservative approach to transfusions saves blood and results in a better patient outcome. Eventually, physicians will be able to use the application in the operating room.
