Official Therapist Blog

Therapy Jobs in Featured U.S. Cities are in Time for Holiday Cheer

Author Therapy Career Blogger | 12.20.2011 | Category Apple iPad, Fun Events, Locations, Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapist Jobs, Therapist Jobs, Therapist Jobs Postings, Therapy Jobs, Top Rehab Careers, Top Therapy Blogs, physical therapy, rehabilitation therapy

Silver bells are ringing from California and the American southwest to the East coast, where therapy jobs for occupational and physical therapists, PTA jobs and Rehabilitation therapy jobs are HOT, featured in towns where plenty of fun and inspiring holiday events are taking place.

PT, OT and Other Therapy Jobs Jingle in the Lover’s State and Enchanting New Mexico!

What PT or occupational therapist could resist New Mexico this time of year, where throughout December it’s a festival of light; with candlelit walkways lighting up the desert sand, storefronts and cafes can’t help but entice shoppers to drop in for a Mexican hot chocolate. Starting a therapy job in time to catch the December-long “Albuquerque River of Lights” is a surefire way to illuminate the New Year with great possibilities! Much further east, featured therapy jobs in Falls Church, VA will delight Christmas lovers everywhere, especially during New Year’s Eve, as events like “Watch Night” unfold near the historic crossroads of Broad and Washington streets.

Why Physical and Occupational Therapists Will Love Holiday Shopping in California

On the West Coast, holiday events appeal to everyone from revelers to wine and pet lovers. From now through January, Palm Springs California, where OTs pull in a competitive occupational therapist salary, is host to some of the finest winter wine tastings in the state. Further north, the city of Hayward is decked out with the annual “Light up the Season” display, and so close to San Francisco that therapists looking to adopt a furry friend might check out “Macy’s Holiday Windows”. Throughout the holiday season and until New Year’s Day, the San Francisco SPCA is hosting *Meet Your Match*, via Macy’s window shopping; click the Macy’s link to view the video! It behooves us to remind everyone that, in our therapy jobs, we welcome Travelers’ pets!

Travel Force Staffing is giving Away the Ultimate Gift: an iPad2! Apply today to Learn More!

We hope we’ve motivated you to apply online or call 1-800-617-0608 for excellent therapist career opportunities, bound to light up your life. Don’t delay, as we are—for a limited time—giving the iPad2 to therapists who complete physical therapy or occupational therapy jobs with us. So give us a ring…or a jingle. Happy holidays!

Virtual Rehab for Occupational Therapy Jobs

Author Therapy Career Blogger | 07.15.2011 | Category Allied Healthcare, Career Tips, Gadgets, Occupational Therapy, Product Reviews, Therapist Jobs, Therapy Jobs, Top Rehab Careers, Top Therapy Blogs, Travel Therapist, Traveling Therapist, Videos, medical robotics, rehabilitation therapy, video

Read Why Occupational Therapy Jobs Just Got More High-Tech in Nevada

Occupational therapy jobs are getting more high-tech and rewarding when they help senior aged patients, thanks to a virtual reality system called the OmniVR. Recently added to two skilled nursing and assisted living facilities in Las Vegas, the OmniVR is a virtual rehab system developed by Reno-based Accelerated Care Plus; it uses a 3-D camera and specialized computer software that captures a patient’s precise movement during “skilled” therapeutic exercises.

Contrary to the old saying “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas”, the OmniVR is being used in about 4,000 U.S. hospitals, skilled nursing homes, outpatient clinics and in home health; patients love its resemblance to the Nintendo Wii; and, just like any interactive virtual reality game, the OmniVR is great for bringing out the competitiveness and quest for fun in patients of all ages.

How Virtual Reality Affects Your Rehab Job

With help from an OT or occupational therapy assistant, the OmniVR is, well, a virtual breeze; the OT stands with the patient—and a black walker that goes uncensored by the game—if balance is shaky. Patients have a lot of leeway in how they want to play: they can be seated, grasp the walker or stand unassisted.

This treatment is ideal for those in recovery from surgery, a fall, stroke or other degenerative and dementia related condition. If patients would rather participate in a multi-player game, the OmniVR is ideal for group rehabilitation too. Traditional therapies are practiced in conjunction with virtual rehab—an exciting new treatment in the world of occupational therapy jobs that shows the shape of things to come! Watch a demo of the OmniVR in action in this Youtube video.

Dreaming of an Occupational Therapy Career? Make it A Reality!

If you’re an OT keen on moving into A-list health care facilities that utilize what’s cutting edge, call Travel Force or apply online. We have high paying Rehab jobs and Travel occupational therapy jobs that make treatments like virtual reality an imminent reality!

Travel Force Staffing provides recruitment solutions for America’s top rated rehabilitation hospitals, outpatient and Rehab centers, skilled nursing facilities, and private therapy practices located in all 50 U.S. states. Our experienced team of staffing experts place physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech language pathologists, surgical technologists and per diem staff and other allied healthcare professionals into therapy careers nationwide. Contact us today at 800-617-0608 for instant access to cutting edge recruitment technology, therapy career resources, news, and information.

Top iPad Medical Apps might be reshaping healthcare

Author Healthcare Jobs Blogger | 05.04.2011 | Category Allied Healthcare, Apple iPad, Career Tips, Gadgets, Occupational Therapy, Product Reviews, Respiratory Therapy, Speech Language Pathologist, Therapist Jobs, Therapy Jobs, Top Therapy Blogs, Travel Gadget, Travel Nurse Blog, Travel Therapist, iPad Apps, physical therapy, rehabilitation therapy

We want to know if you’re currently using iPad medical apps to boost your therapist job knowledge, surf the web for therapy jobs or advance patient care delivery.

You see a fellow physical or occupational therapist, PTA, OTA, or DPT using the technology to access drug databases and anatomical diagrams in seconds. To upload point-of-care therapies in a click and download healthcare education ‘apps’ for the price of an early bird dinner. Practical and affordable, the potential for iPads to improve patient care is endless.

How has the iPad improved your therapy career?

If you’re currently using an iPad on the job, CHIME IN by responding to this post and letting us know how the technology has benefited your therapist career – we want to share it with the world. Furthermore, we want to know if you’re not using one and why, or if you’ve got ideas for iPad therapy job applications which you feel may benefit the profession

Top iPad Medical apps reshaping healthcare

1. AirStrip OB: Free medical app to help occupational therapists and other medical jobs professionals monitor a baby’s symptoms remotely. Used in tandem with the patient, this healthcare app can reduce trips to the hospital. Additionally, AirStrip comes with cardiology medical apps, imaging and critical care iPad healthcare applications.
2. Blausen Human Atlas: Remember how anatomy captivated you as a youth? It helped you learn and understand your own body? Available for less than $20, the Human Atlas offers the therapy jobs professional comprehensive clinical content on every body system. 3-D animations empower therapists to show their patients what’s going on with their bodies. The atlas is used to play 3D animations and explore 3D models.
3. Davis’s Drug Guide: What occupational and physical therapists need to know about drugs. Fast, easy and at your fingertips. Absolutely indispensable for rehabilitation jobs specialists and professionals on the path to therapist careers success. Free updates with yearly subscription.
4. Diagnosaurus DDx: A powerful diagnosis tool from the medical apps dollar menu. That’s right, for about $0.99 you get an easy healthcare reference system that offers information on a number of diseases and conditions. This healthcare app is fat free!
5. ECG Guide: Another handy dollar menu iPad medical app item. The ECG Guide is your tour book to  regular and abnormal ECGs.  For $0.99 therapy jobs candidates get a “one up” on the lessons of ECG diagnosis.
6. Epocrates: FREE and reliable, Epocrates is the #1 mobile drug reference resource used by healthcare providers at the point of care. Trusted for accuracy and cutting-edge offerings, doctors, RNs and therapist job professionals choose Epocrates as a preferred point of care drug reference.
7. Eponyms: Put simply, an eponym is a name of a drug, structure or disease based on or derived from the name of a person. When looking up medical terms, this FREE healthcare app comes in handy, especially for therapist career grads and undergrads. Doctor of Physical Therapy jobs practitioners find it comes in handy too!
8. Human Body 3D Anatomy: This medical iPad healthcare application acts as an anatomy refresher when it’s time to brush up on what’s connected to the knee bone.  It’s about the price of a bagel and coffee and relies on 3D technologies to bring anatomy to life.
9. iAnatomy: View cross sections of the body and actual CT scans on this iPad medical app – complete with images of cadavers and helpful cataloguing. For therapist career professionals who need to compare scans regularly iAnatomy comes cheaper than a cup of coffee.
10. iRadiology: Therapists review radiology concepts and images with this FREE healthcare app ideal for students, interns, residents and veteran therapy job practitioners.
11. MedCalc: Need to figure dosing? This FREE iPad medical app does the work for you. Handy for advanced therapy jobs professionals charged with administering drug therapies. No more having to remember formulas. Quick, easy reliable healthcare application.
12. Medical Lab Tests: Evaluate lab results quickly with this iPad healthcare app that cost about the price of a decent bottle of olive oil. Review normal lab values, including more than 100 blood tests.
13. Medical Spanish: For the price of a Denny’s Grand Slam Breakfast, you can learn basic Spanish phrases to improve communication with non-English speaking patient groups. The medical apps audio component helps you work on proper pronunciation.
14. Medscape: A staple in any electronic healthcare apps library, Medscape is trusted, FREE and invaluable on rounds when you need a medical reference fast. This medical iPad app features breaking medical news and the latest procedures.
15. MedSpeak: Communicate in Mandarin or Cantonese with this iPad medical application for about $15 bucks. Time tested, user friendly and indispensable for candidates in search of therapy jobs with healthcare employers in urban settings.
16. iMeds XL: For about the price of a large popcorn at the movies therapist career professionals can search by drug name or class for information on prescription interactions, side effects and dosing.
17. Monthly Prescribing Reference: Another FREE medical app that helps with prescription interactions and over the counter drugs.
18. Pedi STAT: For about three bucks therapists working with kids gain insights on symptoms, normal growth and essential pediatrics information.
19. Skyscape’s Medical Bag: Clinical tools, medical calculators and lab tests on the go for $1.99 –cheaper than a Starbucks Latte. Not so much for therapist job practitioners, but it’s so cheap why not have it available.
20. Skyscape RxDrugs Dosing Companion: FREE, FREE, FREE healthcare app to figure out dosing for thousands of generic and brand name medications.

iPads and their medical apps are catching on fast in the therapy jobs marketplace. In fact, having one may improve your marketability as a therapist jobs candidate.

Travel Force Staffing provides recruitment solutions for America’s top rated rehabilitation hospitals , outpatient and Rehab centers, skilled nursing facilities, and private therapy practices located in all 50 U.S. states. Our experienced team of staffing experts place physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech language pathologists, surgical technologists and per diem staff and other allied healthcare professionals into therapy careers nationwide. Contact us today at 800-617-0608 for instant access to cutting edge recruitment technology, therapy career resources, news, and information.

Related iPad App blogs

Good iPad app for Physical therapy students

• Electronic Text Books
• Occupational Therapists iPad App

Is Your Physical Therapy Job Benefiting From Cloud Computing?

Author Therapy Career Blogger | 01.24.2011 | Category Allied Healthcare, Apple iPad, Career Tips, Cloud Computing, Physical Therapist Jobs, Product Reviews, Therapist Jobs, Therapy Jobs, Top Therapy Blogs, Videos, physical therapy, rehabilitation therapy, video

Read How This Buzzword Saves Time and Money During Rehabilitation Therapy

To the non-techie, “cloud computing” is just a buzzword, the science behind its influence and functionality left to the IT experts—still, it’s interesting for rehabilitation therapists and their patients—cited by information technology sources as among the biggest beneficiaries of cloud computing—to get the pat definition of what it is and how it’s affecting those in physical therapy jobs.

A primary example of cloud computing at work, can be appreciated in the hand-held Apple iPad Touch that some rehab centers provide physical therapists in outpatient settings. The iPad captures the important details of therapy sessions for PTs—like the exact amount of time each session takes, to-the-letter impressions of therapy notes, patient scheduling, and other vital information that syncs up with offsite servers that ultimately supply more accurate information to insurers; this saves the healthcare industry billions of dollars—not to mention hassle for physical therapists who would rather, in the course of their therapy jobs, devote the lion’s share of attention to their patients, not paperwork.

Why Cloud Computing Means Less Hassle and More Space in Rehab Hospitals

In the not so long ago past, physical therapists used to wait until end of the day to transpose information from daily sessions into a PC, a limited resource in some rehab jobs; with cloud computing—a service on Amazon, Microsoft and other big names supplying on-demand computing—“waiting around”, is becoming a thing of the past! And physical therapists will notice an absence of computing hardware; cloud computing meets the data collection and record keeping needs off-site, far away from what are becoming increasingly streamlined rehab centers.

Watch an IT Professional’s Take on Cloud Computing

Watch the Cloud Computing video below to hear IT experts discuss the direct impact cloud computing is having for allied healthcare workers and American medical services at large. Consider, too—how beneficial it is to work with a premier allied healthcare agency—one that can sync you up to top physical therapy jobs, offering therapists the cutting edge and so much more on rehabilitation therapy.

Work with More Cutting Edge Technologies at Travel Force!

With advances in computer technology, healthcare facilities have more room to work because the space that used to be taken up by computers and servers is no longer necessary for managing patient data; a handy metaphor for cloud computing is this: when you plug in a light at home, do you have to know every detail—or any, for that matter, about electric companies and science to benefit from power? No, the service is just there, making your life—and the big part of it centered around therapist employment, easier. Apply online now, and get to work in a prestigious rehab hospital ASAP.

Travel Force Staffing® provides therapist recruitment solutions for America’s top rated rehabilitation hospitals, outpatient and Rehab centers, skilled nursing facilities, and private therapy practices located in all 50 U.S. states. Our experienced team of staffing experts place physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech language pathologists, per diem staff, and other allied healthcare professionals into therapy careers nationwide. Contact us today for instant access to cutting edge recruitment technology, therapy career resources, news, and information.

Footnote: Read more about how cloud computing is positively impacting rehab jobs and healthcare at large, in this recent article from Information Week.

Occupational Therapy Resources Abound in iPad’s New App - The Little Book of Feelings

Author Therapy Career Blogger | 01.11.2011 | Category Allied Healthcare, Apple iPad, Career Tips, Gadgets, Occupational Therapy, Product Reviews, Therapist Jobs, Therapy Jobs, Top Rehab Careers, Top Therapy Blogs, Travel Therapist, Traveling Therapist, iPad Apps, rehabilitation therapy

Zuuka, a full service in house production company responsible for audio books and popular actionbox games, has something new to offer occupational therapists: an app for the Apple iPad, specifically designed for children.  “The Little Book of Feelings” supplies children’s literature and an array of related activities that OTs can use during occupational therapy sessions; it’s generating quite the buzz in consumer news aimed at occupational therapists. Memory games, digital coloring books and a special composition tool allow the child to better understand and relate to situations and people; the iPad app can also be used by parents and teachers, making it, so far as occupational therapy resources go, a total win-win!

Are you an OT who keeps pace with technological trends?

Rapid advancement in your occupational therapist career is assured with the help of top-notch therapy career resources. Secure a successful therapist job today, by calling 1-800 617-0608, or apply online. Travel Force offers resources and information that keep your occupational therapy license, continuing education, and career needs on perfect track. We also cover cutting edge topics, relevant in today’s healthcare landscape. Subscribe to our blog and stay connected!

More Occupational Therapy blogs:

• Healthcare Staffing Jobs Spike Creates Record Breaking Demand for Occupational and Physical Therapists
• Electronic Textbooks Take a Step Closer to Reality

Travel Force Staffing® provides therapist recruitment solutions for America’s top rated rehabilitation hospitals, outpatient and Rehab centers, skilled nursing facilities, and private therapy practices located in all 50 U.S. states. Our experienced team of staffing experts place physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech language pathologists, per diem staff, and other allied healthcare professionals into therapy careers nationwide. Contact us today for instant access to cutting edge recruitment technology, therapy career resources, news, and information.

Virtual Reality Games Provide Pain Distraction for Burn Victims During Therapy

Author Therapy Career Blogger | 01.04.2011 | Category Allied Healthcare, Career Tips, Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapist Jobs, Product Reviews, Therapist Jobs, Therapy Jobs, Top Therapy Blogs, Travel Therapist, Videos, physical therapy, rehabilitation therapy, video

Texas rehab therapy jobs are getting more interesting, thanks to headline news from Shriners Hospitals in Galveston, where the virtual reality game, SnowWorld, is being used during physical and occupational therapy sessions for burn victims. The rehab hospital, on the map for providing total burn care to children for decades, is taking part in a study funded by the National Institutes of Health; it examines the effects of pain distraction and its positive impact on pain tolerance. The medium supplying this welcomed distraction? Virtual reality games!

To date, the results have been both very positive and encouraging. SnowWorld—in use and viewable in the video below —calms patients, reduces their pain and allows them to complete more rigorous and productive therapy regimes with their PTs and OTs, compared with patients who did not use the virtual reality game during therapy.

Patients in Pediatric Rehabilitation Hospitals Experience Better Therapy Sessions with Virtual Reality

The interesting thing to note about SnowWorld is that, unlike other virtual reality games, it lacks characters, detailed storylines or complicated rules; patients simply lie back and have fun with it—the game’s creators describe it as being totally immersed in a cool, virtual world proven to temporarily alter pain receptors in the patient’s brain, thus distracting them from the more grueling aspects of occupational and physical therapy.

Because occupational therapists and physical therapists provide these patients with the exercises they need to help retain skin elasticity and avoid multiple surgeries, they can fully appreciate a virtual reality game like SnowWorld, and look forward to the pain distraction it provides—not only as a way to get patients more excited about working together, but as a way to accomplish their goals faster and with less resistance.

Work in Texas Physical Therapy Jobs at Rehab Hospitals with Cutting-Edge Technology

With world-renowned rehabilitation hospitals employing virtual reality and enjoying its success, Texas physical therapy jobs for allied health professionals are using advanced technology in their physical and occupational therapy careers—these are lucrative professions in high demand and continue to climb as we enter the new year of 2011.

Call Travel Force today at 1-800-617-0608 or apply online, for all the best opportunities in top ranking rehabilitation hospitals nationwide.

Travel Force Staffing® provides therapist recruitment solutions for America’s top rated rehabilitation hospitals, outpatient and Rehab centers, skilled nursing facilities, and private therapy practices located in all 50 U.S. states. Our experienced team of staffing experts place physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech language pathologists, per diem staff, and other allied healthcare professionals into therapy careers nationwide. Contact us today for instant access to cutting edge recruitment technology, therapy career resources, news, and information.

California Physical Therapists Use Space Age Technology Described as an Anti-Gravity Treadmill in Patient Rehabilitation

Author Therapy Career Blogger | 11.16.2010 | Category Allied Healthcare, Career Tips, Locations, Physical Therapist Jobs, Product Reviews, Therapist Jobs, Therapist Jobs Postings, Top Rehab Careers, Top Therapy Blogs, Videos, medical robotics, physical therapy, rehabilitation therapy

California physical therapists never put a man on the moon, but thanks to a new anti-gravity treadmill prototype called the AlterG, patients feel like they’re walking on it. Developed by the Palo Alto Rehabilitation Research and Development Center in collaboration with NASA, the AlterG is the first FDA approved medical device of its kind, benefiting patients at a Veterans Medical Center, who say the AlterG helps them keep their weight down without pain in their knees, as well as enable a level of fitness unseen by them in years.

How does the Anti-Gravity Treadmill Work?

For post op knee and hip (physical therapy) patients, an anti-gravity treadmill is literally taking the pressure off rehabilitation. Patients begin by zipping themselves into the treadmill’s pouch. The machine alters body weight and how much of it is used during a workout, by using air pressure technology to effectively “lift” the patient; this reduces the normal amount of pressure and weight at critical joints. Physical therapists fascinated by this NASA developed technology can read in-depth product information at the AlterG website.

The AlterG Permits Physical Therapists to Have More Control

At the Palo Alto VA hospital, California Physical Therapist Jobs entailing the use of the AlterG mean learning how to manipulate its touch-screen interface; this adjusts the distribution of the patient’s body weight. The ability to control these settings enables therapists to modify the functions of the treadmill over time, in accordance to a patient’s treatment plan. PTs using the anti-gravity treadmill say it’s preferable to a pool (treadmill) because the AlterG allows better control of weight baring exercise.

Major Medical Centers, Sports and Fitness Programs Already on Board with the AlterG

Innovative technology like an anti-gravity treadmill is two fold in its beneficially; not only does it make some therapist jobs in California easier for PTs hoping to hasten the rehabilitation of patients after surgery, but the U.S. Veterans using the device enjoy the adjustability it offers; the AlterG is giving them the chance to keep pace more comfortably with their own unique speed of healing. For PTs in California physical therapy jobs, patients’ healing seems to be getting faster—not quite the speed of light—but expedient enough to make headlines.

Our Physical Therapy Jobs Are in Cutting Edge Outpatient Centers, Rehab Centers & Clinics

Make great news of your own by getting a top physical therapy job today! Travel Force staffs therapists in several of America’s best hospitals ranked “Best Rehabilitation Hospitals” by the U.S. News & World Report; these facilities are right on track with emerging trends in healthcare and cutting edge physical therapy solutions. Call as at 1-800-617-0608 or apply online! Recruiters are standing by to match your talents, not just with California physical therapy jobs but opportunities nationwide!

Robotic Exoskeletons Are Helping Stroke Survivors Recover Mobility

Author Therapy Career Blogger | 11.09.2010 | Category ALEX, Product Reviews, Therapy Jobs, Videos, medical robotics, physical therapy, rehabilitation therapy

Emerging trends in medical robotics join forces with Physical Therapists employed in top rehab hospitals

Physical therapists in America’s best rehabilitation hospitals expect to treat large numbers of patients who are stroke survivors. Current statistics hover around 700,000 stroke victims per year, with a documented 3 million survivors dealing with chronic after effects. Medical robotics are joining forces with physical therapy to help them recover.

Take, ALEX (Actively Driven Leg Exoskeleton), which improves gait function in stroke survivors over a six-week time frame; this device was the focus of the 2010 BioRob Conference, held in Tokyo this September. Stroke survivors involved in ALEX studies have regained leg function and overcome compensatory problems, like shallow footpath, poor balance and knee flexion—common after effects of brain injuries.

For the PT specialist and physical therapist graduate just breaking into rehabilitation jobs, robotic exoskeletons are receiving high reviews from doctors and patients alike.

How do robotic exoskeletons modulate foot movement in stroke survivors?

ALEX retrains the patient’s brain, encouraging movement through a pre-selected footpath with built-in window of variability, controlled by the trainer or physical therapist. ALEX corrects movements outside the desired window using an elastic resistance similar to what physical therapists are used to doing manually; this spares the PT the physical exhaustion associated with starting the patient’s current foot trajectory and morphing it toward a more normal one; because of ALEX, medical robotics does the work, rather than use physical therapists to provide weight supported treadmill training.

Read More about Biomedical Robotics and its Endless Possibilities

If ALEX goes mainstream, it could spare hundreds of thousands of stroke survivor patients from chronic muscle and back strain, joint pathology and other affirmatives that impede normal range of movement. Physical therapists who want a more in depth look at ALEX and the ALEX II device can read highlights gleaned from the presentation at the IEEE International Conference on Biomedical Robotics; Spoiler alert: exoskeletons were a hot topic!

This comes as no surprise. As ALEX makes its way toward a successful clinical trial, the possibilities seem endless. We are, after all, talking about a virtual training environment that may one day train athletes to learn new skills more quickly. Whether technological advances like these occur inside or outside the rehabilitative hospital, ALEX is helping to do what physical therapists have always done: bring motion to life!

Are you a physical therapist graduate interested in doing the same? Spend time connecting with Travel Force Therapy Career Resources to stay abreast of physical therapy news and land top rehab jobs. Call Travel Force at 800-617-0608 or apply online today—you’ll be glad you did!

Electronic Textbooks Take a Step Closer to Reality

Author Therapy Career Blogger | 02.10.2010 | Category Apple iPad, Gadgets, Ongoing Education, Product Reviews, Videos, physical therapy

Physical therapy students who are tired of paying exorbitant prices for their instantly-outdated health textbooks (and then having to haul the weighty books around!) will be glad to see that electronic textbooks are taking a major step closer to becoming reality.

Just recently, major medical textbook publishers — including Random House, McGraw-Hill, Perseus, Wiley and Kaplan — struck a deal with app developer ScrollMotion to adapt their products for the iPad electronic page.

Rik Kranenburg, an executive with McGraw-Hill Co., was quoted in the Wall Street Journal as declaring:

“People have been talking about the impact of technology on education for 25 years. It feels like it is really going to happen in 2010.”

Publishers have certainly embraced the idea in theory, because electronic versions of their medical textbooks save them time and money in production, printing and storage, as well as enabling them to update the books virtually, rather than having to publish new print editions.

However, in practice, publishers have tended to produce online versions of medical journals, product manuals, study guides and the like, rather than actual health textbooks –  partly because the technology has not been available that makes e-books attractive to students.  (Though their unique features — such as instant access to particular references; and brighter, more lifelike graphics — can make electronic books quite useful, these products have not been as interactive as needed for students in physical therapy programs and elsewhere.)

But the recent release of the highly-anticipated Apple iPad is a game-changer.  ScrollMotion’s development deal with publishers includes iPad applications to let users, such as occupational therapy students play videos, highlight text, record lectures, take printed notes, search the text, and participate in interactive quizzes.

As of now, the iPad seems to be lacking many such features. For instance, there’s no capability to let users play Flash-based videos downloaded from the Web; there’s no camera for video-conferences or virtual study groups; and there’s no handwriting recognition for taking notes. Also, the current iPad does not allow for multitasking.

All of these drawbacks come at a hefty price: $499, plus at least $30 per month in utility charges, not to mention the cost of the e-books. Thus, other competing technologies on the market, such as cheaper netbooks, or Amazon’s Kindle DX, may end up being the e-book devices of choice for students. Or, it very well could be the next generation of the iPad that physical therapy students find themselves hauling around.

Are you a therapy program student? What do you think of the Apple iPad?

Stay tuned!

Attention Physical Therapists: There’s a New Gown in Town and its name is Bair Paws Flex

Author Therapy Career Blogger | 01.28.2010 | Category Bair Paws Flex, Product Reviews, physical therapy, rehabilitation therapy

It gets cold in the Midwest, but at Arizant Inc., a forced air blanket provider in Minnesota, the heat is on. The company has created a surgical gown called the Bair Paws Flex gown and it’s going to make physical therapists’ patients—the ones facing surgery—a lot more comfortable during their hospitalization. Bair Paws is made of wood fibers, polypropylene, and polyester; a machine blows warm air between layers of paper, warming up the wearer before, during and after surgery.

Patients Benefiting from the puffy gown joke that it’s no fashion statement, yet like it well enough to inquire of their PT’s: “Can I get this at home?” The short answer is no, but the good news is, the healthcare facilities buying Bair Paws are up by 400 in the past year. Considering that OR temperatures average in the low 60’s, it’s no small wonder patients want to beat the arctic factor and wear this gown—and they’re not the only ones who are crowing.
Bair Paws is convenient for surgeons because it’s loaded with Velcro and can be manipulated during operations so the right parts are accessible, while the rest of the body stays covered and warm. Another advantage: patients wearing it go easily from waiting room to OR—no wardrobe change required. At $15 each, the gowns run a few dollars more per case than forced air blankets, but their popularity endures because doctors and PT’s alike link patient warming to faster recoveries; if post-op patients are going to respond well to rehabilitation therapy, healing is key.

Studies show that patient warming prevents dips in body temperatures, which can cause heart problems, wound infections, blood loss and prolonged recovery. But beyond the basic desire to make patients more comfortable, caregivers are motivated by new standards from Medicare. The government is now connecting two percent of medical pay to performance, of which reporting on and controlling body temps (during a surgical procedure lasting an hour or more) is a huge factor.

Your one line take-away from this story: Global warming bad; patient warming, priceless.