Medical Records On Your Smartphone

SPRING HILL - A physician can access a medical

chart 2,000 miles away right in the palm of his

hand.

Not long ago, a doctor needed to be inside the

medical center to obtain that kind of data.

That lightning-quick access is part of the latest

technology being introduced to doctors at Oak

Hill Hospital.

"If there was ever information at your

fingertips, this is it," said Dr. Krishna M.

Ganti, an ear, nose and throat surgeon.

He was one of the first to be trained on the

software - PatientKeeper's Mobile Clinical

Results.

Lab results and medical histories are among the

data that can be accessed from any compatible

smartphone - as long as there is an existing

cellular signal.

Due to confidentiality laws, doctors are the only

ones privy to such information. There are layers

of protection to help prevent breaches, said

hospital spokesman Richard Linkul.

The system went live at Community Hospital in New

Port Richey in March. Oak Hill went live with it

April 10.

"It collects all the information a physician

needs, and it's available for him to use," Linkul

said.

PatientKeeper has a deal with the Health

Corporation of America (HCA), which owns Oak Hill

and Community.

Physicians are still in the process of learning

the system. Nine or so are up to speed while four

others were expected to begin training soon.

Three or four others will be trained later once

they grow more accustomed to their phones, Linkul

said.

"It's not any different from using a big

computer," said Ganti. "It's just that everything

is hand-held."

Gordon Dewhurst, a physician support coordinator

for HCA, introduced the new software to the

hospital and is training doctors on its use.

He also showed off a new wireless capability that

will soon be used by all physicians at the

hospital.

A doctor may bring a laptop computer to the

facility and access any digital diagnostic image

he or she has taken on a patient.

The days of taking X-rays and hanging the films

over a lighted screen are over, Dewhurst said.

They can access mammograms, CT scans and magnetic

resonance images (MRI) and view them on their

laptops.

Wireless access has been available for patients

and employees at Oak Hill for the past seven

months, Linkul said.

Other advances in technology will eventually put

an end to medical records rooms, said Frank

Guardiani, director of cardiovascular services.

Heart doctors now can access information and view

images from an electrocardiogram (EKG) on any of

the department's computers.

"The physician is able to see the most current

EKG for a patient instead of calling medical

records and getting someone to bring it up here,"

Guardiani said. "(Medical records) is probably

going to go away."