Pathology mobile app ideas?

[hallucinated]

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Hi guys, besides all these pay cut talks, I am a PGY2 pathology resident, actually interested in pathology informatics as a subspecialty. I was to start off my career by making some relevant mobile apps.

I wanted to get some suggestions and ideas on what kind of apps people wanted. Currently, I have plans for transfusion medicine calculator and a one-stop mobile-device-friendly website for well-established pathology criterias (PASS for pheo, bloom-richardson for breasts, etc) I am planning to share them all free of charge to move pathology forward and make pathology residency easier for others.

Suggest ideas!

 

[KCShaw]

Look around at what's out there already, too. There are at least a few apps, perhaps initially designed for clinicians, but which address some of these things to one extent or other particularly on the CP side.

I'd also think about categories of things to consider addressing separately: calculators, information retrieval (staging protocols, common algorithms, high yield tables, +/- images, relevant publications, etc.), information sharing/consulting, specific system oriented, tumor vs non-tumor, and so on. It would be highly impractical to try to write something all encompassing, but targeting one category or other might help focus your efforts.

 

[kaye98]

As a fellow pathology resident, I think a board prep app would be great. Something akin to the Uworld app for USMLE.

 

[yaah]

I dunno. Pathology is not as "mobile" as other fields. You have your office and your computer, why would you really need a mobile app? Residents are the closest thing to mobile.

Personally, I would like stuff that helped out with things we get lots of random questions about, like coagulation issues or chemistry intereferences and things like that.

 

[hallucinated]

Thanks KCShaw, kaye98, yaah. I definitely am facing the impossibility of coming up with a single killer app as well, especially given the relatively not-so-tech-savvy field of pathology (adoption is the main issue in addition to lack of interest and application).

As for question bank, I know training programs keep their internal bank of questions. Wonder how I can mobilize everyone to pull them together?

I do realize mobility isn't what really characterizes our field but help me out here, i am just trying new things 🙂. And after all, aren't we all sick of all the CMS reimbursement cut related threads? Instead of complaining, why not take some steps to improve our field, make it more visible and make the general realize we're integral members of medicine.

 

[cmz]

Regarding TM stuff... how about a quick app that can perform an accurate calculation to figure out replacement volume for plasma exchange procedures? I actually used a pretty snazzy excel spreadsheet while in residency that wasn't too far off the Kobe machines we used. It sounds overkill when there's a simple set of calculations you can use, but... I'm anal like that.

I've also seen a lot of residents make their own "flash cards" for their smartphones for board prep... it would be genius if someone could develop a central repository where users could upload items for publication consideration and changes hot-fixed into the users app if they care about constant updates. Building the framework shouldn't be hard... finding quality material will, unfortunately.

 

[hallucinated]

cmz: this is my work thus far... http://jsfiddle.net/plasmak/TmZyb/27/embedded/result/

I am trying to get it hosted on a real website. It's somewhat haphazardly put together so need some polishing.

 

[TMZ2007]

Hey, that's pretty badass. It's just a website and so updates will just appear automatically...?

Is there anyway you post a link to the equations you are utilizing for piece of mind/quality assurance?

 

[hallucinated]

I just used the formula on my program's shared excel file, but realized later it's called Nadler's formula. I believe it's what the cobe spectra machines also use.

Also can easily see the source code if you want (im not a good coder, this was initially created for just personal purpose). I am intending to re-code it sometime.

 

[KCShaw]

Yeah, be careful with the information/data heavy apps and study guides, because things change over time and keeping current is awfully difficult without active crowd-sourcing -- and with crowd-sourcing comes the problem of quality control/assurance. Calculators are always useful though, and certain algorithms are pretty stable. A simplified app interface to a website isn't a bad idea either, as it's usually easier to update a website than an app which needs re-downloading for every update.

Yaah makes a good point, that stuff we might look up in the office may be better done with the computer right in front of us. It's the after hours, at lunch, etc. CP calls that might draw more actual use, with a lot less effort to generate or maintain.

 

[MOHS_01]

I dunno. Pathology is not as "mobile" as other fields. You have your office and your computer, why would you really need a mobile app? Residents are the closest thing to mobile.

Personally, I would like stuff that helped out with things we get lots of random questions about, like coagulation issues or chemistry intereferences and things like that.

How about "reports at your fingertips"? Upload reports, secure log in, search by pt name, dob, whatever? That way a clinician can have access to the report when they need it, 6pm after running late in clinic all day and the lab is closed, in pre-op when someone forgets to check all of the boxes, on the weekend when a patient calls worried, etc?

It could be a premium service, charged to either the path group wanting to gain or secure share or the provider group for convenience... can interface with HL7 EHR's, etc? mo' money

 

[KCShaw]

Nice idea, but it either has to be robust enough to be a total replacement for a current reporting program (and come with support if it's going to be used in more than a handful of niche practices), or it has to interface somehow with one or more existing reporting programs (and face a myriad of other software and possible legal obstacles).

 

[MOHS_01]

http://www.opentheredbox.com/products/healthalert/available-report

 

[KCShaw]

Interesting. Doesn't explain how they interface with existing systems, but it sounds like it's intended to be a corporate purchase -- I imagine you buy the work needed to make it interface. Wonder what the userbase is.

 

[hallucinated]

Yea, I would like to stay out of designing interfaces, because systems are too proprietary. I decided to start on something simple & educational like IHC review guide... ImmunoQuery seems too overwhelming to use at times, and most other newer stains require pubmed search.

As a PGY-2 trying to come up with an organization scheme might be tough, but maybe I can learn to be a stain master after this.

 

[KCShaw]

IHC suggested algorithms I would have found very useful, although it seems like everyone in practice has a slightly different approach to their use. But yeah, I used to spend a fair amount of time trying to figure out what a given stain was supposed to look like or mean, or what to order and when.

 

[Neopath]

What I never understood is why no one ever created a program to solve antibody panels. Why do BBers sit there and use crossouts all AM? Can't a simple program solve even the most complicated panels?

 

[KCShaw]

Sounds like one of those all too logical ideas that the FDA would want validated for untold sums and years of committees. But slap a disclaimer on it and let folks deny using it for "real" clinical work and maybe there ya go..

 

[hallucinated]

What I never understood is why no one ever created a program to solve antibody panels. Why do BBers sit there and use crossouts all AM? Can't a simple program solve even the most complicated panels?

Sorry guys I have been busy with moving. This is actually a good idea. I might explore the possibility. I think simple things just don't get done if there's no demand / $ for it. Plus how many blood bankers are programmers?