UPFRONT | From the editor High-tech care Some doctors in the States are taking patient care to the next level by merging personal apps with electronic health records to better monitor patient progress and, hopefully, prevent a costly trip to the emergency de-partment. Doctors from Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey are tracking a number of patients with high risk of heart failure by asking them to use a fitness app to count their steps and a nutrition app to record what they eat. Through Apple’s HealthKit technology, data gathered from these apps are transferred to the Epic MyChart app on the iPhone, which then gets transmitted to the hospital’s electronic health records system, which is also based on the Epic platform. Other hospitals, like the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. and Ochsner Hospital in New Orleans, are also starting to implement similar initiatives for various purposes and patients. The objective for all these programs is to provide health-care practitioners a clearer picture of their patients’ behaviours, conditions and symptoms beyond just a 30-minute clinic visit. The hope is to enhance prevention and offer early intervention of potential illnesses. Advancements in health-care technology have effectively empowered in-dividuals to take more responsibility for their own health, by making software and applications easily accessible and personal. Smart phone apps have made health care cool and wearable fitness tracking devices trendy. Pioneering hospitals and health-care practitioners taking advantage of new technologies to enhance patient care are on the right track. They are not only helping patients achieve better health outcomes; they are also effectively engaging the younger generation, the tech-savvy patients, in a medium they are most comfortable with and will likely respond to. If society is to truly enhance patient care and improve the health of the population in a meaningful and sustainable way, it’s going to need all the resources it can get. So, if you’re trying to find ways to engage and energize your patients about their health, I’m pretty sure there’s an app for that. April 2015 Volume 20, Number 2 EDITOR Mari-Len De Guzman [email protected] (905) 726-4659 PUBLISHER Christine Livingstone [email protected] (519) 429-5173 • (888) 599-2228 ext. 239 SALES ASSISTANT Shannon Drumm [email protected] (888) 599-2228 ext. 219 MEDIA DESIGNER Brooke Shaw GROUP PUBLISHER Martin McAnulty [email protected] DIRECTOR OF SOUL/COO Sue Fredericks MAILING ADDRESS P.O. Box 530, 105 Donly Drive South, Simcoe, ON N3Y 4N5 RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO CIRCULATION DEPT. P.O. BOX 530, SIMCOE, ON N3Y 4N5 e-mail: [email protected] Canadian Chiropractor is published eight times a year: February, April, May, June, July/August, September, October and December. Published and printed by Annex Publishing & Printing Inc., 105 Donly Drive South, Simcoe, ON N3Y 4N5 Printed in Canada ISSN 1488-6952 CIRCULATION e-mail: [email protected] Tel: (866) 790-6070 ext. 201 Fax: (877) 624-1940 Mail: P.O. Box 530, Simcoe, ON N3Y 4N5 SUBSCRIPTION RATES Canada – 1 Year $24.00 (with GST $25.20, with HST/QST $27.12) (HST #867172652RT0001) USA – 1 Year $35.00 (US Funds) Best pricing is available online at canadianchiropractor.ca Occasionally, Canadian Chiropractor will mail information on behalf of industry-related groups whose products and services we believe may be of interest to you. If you prefer not to receive this information, please contact our circulation department in any of the four ways listed above. No part of the editorial content of this publication may be reprinted without the publisher’s written permission. ©2015 Annex Publishing & Printing Inc. All rights reserved. Opinions expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the editor or the publisher. No liability is assumed for errors or omissions. All advertising is subject to the publisher’s approval. Such approval does not imply any endorsement of the products or services advertised. Publisher reserves the right to refuse advertising that does not meet the standards of the publication. MARI-LEN DEGUZMAN, Editor EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD @CanChiropractor Victoria Coleman, DC; Connie J. D’Astolfo, DC, Dip HA, PhD (cand); Pierre DesLauriers, DC; Karin Hammerich, DC, MHS; James P. Laws, DC, FRCCSS(C)(Hon); David Leprich, DC; Wanda Lee MacPhee, DC; Peter Moore, DC; Don Nixdorf, DC; Renae Rogers, DC; Greg Stewart, BPE, DC; Greg Uchacz, DC, FRCCSS(C); Jessica Wong, DC; Emily Roback, BSc, DC; Catherine Bezeau (student member -UQTR). 6 Canadian Chiropractor April 2015 www.canadianchiropractor.ca
Chiropractic + Naturopathic Doctor April 2015: Page 6
