Android App Review: Medical Abbreviations

So you're reading your patient medical file...  It's writen that your patient is " CCF, COPD, HTN with IDD that contributed to a CVI.  He is now taking Synthroid TID and Ativan IM PRN.  He is now T.S.T.H. " How will you establish the correct treatment plan if you can not understand the diagnostic?  The BBC repported that 5% of medical errors were related to abbreviations in the file that were not understood.  The inter-juge accor for an abbreviation in non-medical health professional is only 30 to 63%.  Enough to create a lot of confusion and mistakes.  This App will help you understand the medical abbreviations in English, but also their French, Spanish, German, Polish, Russian and Dutch version. 

For more information visit the Medical abbreviations website [here]

Jocelyn Morettini

Health Psychologist / Neuropsychologist

jocelyn.morettini@gmail.com

View Jocelyn Morettini's page

Follow on Twitter @Morettini_J and @PsychMobiletTech

Making learning accessible: on all platforms

Being neuropsychologist or psychologist you will have, at one point or another, to encourage your patients to learn new materiel.  A traumatic brain injury patient might have to learn the names and faces of its therapists, but could not.  A stroke patient might have aphasia or visual agnosia, and he would need cognitive remediation. Your patient with relational problems might need to remind himself of his maladaptive schema triggers.  The scenarios are endless, has there are subjects to be learned.

What Anki does for you and your patient is to give you a learning platform based on flashcards.  On one side you have the question, and on the other the answer.  Everything is customizable to your liking.  You can use text, picture, audio or even video on all flashcards.  You simply use the medium that is appropriated to the materiel that you want to learn.  Now, where Anki becomes a real innovative tool is in its capability to create statistics and different frequency of repetitions based on your learning curve.  Each time you answer, Anki will ask you to what level was it easy for you to get the it right.  According to that, the program will plot a recurrence frequency that will suit your needs.  You will also be able to distribute that frequency on a timeframe of your choice.  That is to say that you can learn intensively for a week or in your spare time over the next month, it’s your choice to make.

Anki is an open source program.  It can be used on a PC, Mac, Android, IPhone, Linux or web based interface.  All those platforms can be linked together by cloud computing.  So the learning you did on your Android phone, while you were on the move, can be continued at home on your PC. The only drawback for this App is that you cannot lock the access to the program (although you can lock your access to your account).  Many decks already exist and they are freely available.  You can also make and publish your own deck.   In the end not only your patients will use it, but probably you will also.

For more information visit the ANKI web site [here]

Jocelyn Morettini

Health Psychologist / Neuropsychologist

jocelyn.morettini@gmail.com

View Jocelyn Morettini's page

Follow on Twitter @Morettini_J and @PsychMobiletTech

Canadian brain injury center wants your used smartphone!

Dear readers,

Community Head Injury Resources Services of Toronto (CHIRS), recently launched a new and unique rehabilitation initiative called the cTech program that uses mobile technologies (e.g. iPhone, smartphones & tablets) to assist in acquired brain injury (ABI) rehabilitation. The program utilizes a host of strategies that range from group learning and peer mentorship to errorless learning to help clients make use of innovative technologies to compensate for their cognitive impairments.

As part of the initiative, CHIRS is giving away donated devices to persons with  an ABI enrolled in the program.

We are asking you to consider donating your used smartphones or tablets to the cTech program. Once the device is received, it will be inspected, cleaned and purged of private data. A letter will then be sent to the donor. A Canadian tax credit corresponding to the value of the device will then be issued before tax season.

Did you know that CHIRS originally known as the Ashby House, was the first community-based brain injury rehabilitation program in North America? CHIRS is a registered not-for-profit charitable organization that aims to improve the quality of life for people living with the effects of acquired brain injury (ABI).

The cTech program is proud to offer Memory-Link  pioneered by Dr. Brian Richards at Baycrest Hospital [watch the youtube video].

Please share this message with others!

For more information, please contact:

Dr. Sylvain Roy, C.Psych.
Clinical Neuropsychologist
Community Head Injury Resource Services
62 Finch Avenue West
Toronto, Ontario, Canada M2N 7G1
Tel: (416) 240-8000
ctech@chirs.com

 

iOS app review: The therapy Outcome Management System

I recently discovered a cleverly designed iOS app designed to assess therapy outcome. The app is easy to use, secure and useful for monitoring a client's progress during therapy.

TOMS contains the Outcome Ratings Scale (Miller & Duncan, 2000), which looks at the client's well-being (overall, personal, family, and social) and the Session Rating Scale (Johnson, Miller & Duncan, 2000), which quickly evaluates patients' experience during a session (e.g., quality of the relationship, client-therapist fit, etc.).

The app is password protected and adequately organizes your client files. Client profiles are easily added, the questionaire are quickly administered, the rating scales are easy to navigate, and a graph allows you to see progress over time. An email feature is provided if you wish to export the data.

For more information visit the TOMS web site [here]

Download the app from the US App store [here] for $14.99

Sylvain Roy, Ph.D., neuropsychologist

Linked-In [profile]

Follow on Twitter @ PsychMobiletTech

If you could get your mobile device to do one thing, what would it be?

Friendly professional survey:

I use smartphones and tablets for brain injury rehabilitation and assessments.

If you could get your mobile device to do one thing, what would it be?

Android App review : ASK before it's too late. Prevent suicide.

Suicidal risk or tentative is an intricate part of any mental health professional. Having to promote life in suicidal patient is delicate and sometimes complex thing to do.  Considering the prevalence numbers in our western societies, having more tools seems a necessity. 

This program has no cool graphics, no interactivity, and no more information than a web page.  So why would we bother talking about it?  Simply because it does what it’s supposed to do:  create a one click access to important information and to get immediate support. 

The ASK & Prevent Suicide app provides basic information about suicidal risk for patient and their loved ones.  Having the information readily available in your pocket will diminish steps needed to get help (in turn increase the likelihood of getting help).  A plus, is that it’s always available, even if you don’t have a WiFi or data connection.  The ASK & Prevent Suicide app also offers hotline numbers for Suicide Prevention, for Veterans and for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning.  One click and you’re on the phone with the proper hotline.  These hotlines are only available in the United States.

Having more people armed to face suicidal risks will only help to save lives.

Created by Mental Health America of Texas

Jocelyn Morettini

Health Psychologist / Neuropsychologist

jocelyn.morettini@gmail.com

View Jocelyn Morettini's [LinkedIn] page

Making the Most of Mobile Technology in Private Practice

I thought this article might interest some readers.

"Making the Most of Mobile Technology in Private Practice," from the May/June 2012 issue of The California Psychologist's "Technology and Psychology"  By Yvette Tazeau, Ph.D.