“In health, nothing substitutes for prevention. Yet far too many Latinos today do not have access to a doctor because of cost or mobility issues. To help with this, there is another recent innovation, the “doc in a box.” It will help connect patients to healthcare in areas where access to doctors and medicine is difficult. The “box” contains a video camera offering high quality video, broadband access (both wireless and wireline), and equipment for basic medical tests such as EKGs. Once vital signs are taken, the information goes straight into a patient’s record, which can now be maintained electronically”
Jose MarquezFounder, Latinos in Information Sciences and Technology Association (LISTA)
A very interesting article but what’s the “doc in a box” bit all about when your primary concerns appear to be access as a result of cost or mobility issues?
What has left the author so confident about the mobiles ability to fulfill complex healthcare roles (eg. complex blood sugar monitoring) but so uncertain of the mobiles ability to support a webcam style video connection or collect an ECG when these are things that millions of us can have available today with just a good quality 3G videophone?
Surely we’ve gone beyond this stage now that millions of Americans have iPhone’s with forward facing cameras and the iPhone 4S has become Apple’s best selling iPhone ever?