Official Therapist Blog

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Physical therapy students who are tired of paying exorbitant prices for their instantly-outdated health textbooks (and then having to haul the weighty books around!)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.

Here is a video with more details on the iPad’s shortcomings

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.