Hi everybody, Digital devices should not be used when there is the potential risk of endangering people life- like the case of public bus drivers text messaging and twittering while driving. The problem with the newspaper articles ( http://goo.gl/0kQxz ) is that it has no empirical roots, no references to the literature and is based on speculation - actually a " gut feeling" of an anesthesiologist is reported! By the way, ask any surgeon who has at least 20 years of practice, that is well before the diffusion of smart digital devices weather or not anesthesiologists read newspapers in the operating room during the operation? unfortunately the answer is yes. Does distraction patterns change over time or does the means people use to get distracted change? I have been working in interdisciplinary eHealth research groups for more then ten years, and actually literature shows that digital health devices, and medical apps accessed via smart phones are lowering medical error rate (one of the three main reasons of death in health care practice) . Digital media help nurses avoid mistakes when provide medication dosage to patients- Telemedicine via the internet supports education & medical knowledge by helping third world country access free online continuing medical education programs. Internet allows for immediate verification of medical professional information - drug dosage, etc. that otherwise would require long time retrieval, avoidance and inefficiencies. The hypothesis of potential distraction effects from using digital devices - for what purpose? - in risky situations should be further investigated (seriously), but must be contextualized. In fact, during risky operating room activities like hearth surgery - in the newspaper's example - the non-medical staff experience different levels of "risk" at different pick-times. I would be concerned if the primary doctor performing the operation would touch anything besides the knife, including his head, during the operation! By the way, doctors performing pioneering telesurgery on patients in another "nation" use a million dollar device that additionally offers internet access on a screen. Monica Murero , Ph.D. AoIR Honorific Lifetime Member Director E-Life International Institute Associate Professor in Politics of e-Government and in Sociology of New Technology University Federico II, Italy AoIR Exec, 2003-2009; AoIR Treasurer, 2005-2009 LinkedIn: http://it.linkedin.com/pub/monica-murero-ph-d/16/52/606 Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/monica_murero @monica_murero Facebook: murero monica Il giorno 16/dic/11, alle ore 00:39, gene loeb ha scritto:
This is very interesting and useful to my colleagues here. Gene
---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: David Sadoway <bigbluearth@gmail.com> Date: Thu, Dec 15, 2011 at 6:38 AM Subject: [ciresearchers] Doctors, [ICTs] and potential distractions / today's NYT To: ciresearchers@vancouvercommunity.net Cc: michael gurstein <gurstein@gmail.com>
An article which may be of interest from today's NYTimes.
December 14, 2011
https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/15/health/as-doctors-use-more-devices-potent...