I'd love to use my Nokia N800 tablet or my beloved Sharp Zaurus SL-C860 - both would fit the bill perfectly... Alas, rural Australia is an Internet backwater, not much better than most third world countries in terms of wireless Internet access.
Of course, I could use a mobile phone and use it via bluetooth as a modem for the N800 - but then I would have to lug again two gadgets, worry about two different batteries running out,...
Get out of jail as soon as you can!
Then I bought an iPhone. Useless piece of yuppie adornment out of the box, but once jailbroken, aaaaah! The user interface is a true gem - inertial scrolling, zooming in/out by pinching the screen, and a virtual keyboard that actually works even with my clumsy fingers!
Sadly, if Steven Jobs had his way (iPhone locked, no 3rd party apps) - it would be as useless as a brick to me. Since the newest updates lock it again without easy way out this time, it means that for nowI'll have to stick to firmware version 1.1.1 - the pox on you Steve and your bottomless greed! Shame on you Steve, soiling such beautiful hardware and user interface with such medieval restrictions! But more about this later.
Accessing patient records remotely
Most of my patient data I can access via browser interface. No such luck as 3G connectivity in my rural area (which the iPhone couldn't use anyway), not even EDGE - but GPRS does the trick if the health record software plays nice. A patient's history, their allergies, current and past medications, pathology reports, received letters - all just a few finger taps away. Note to health record system vendors: never produce systems that don't allow web browser access! - I had to spend hundreds of hours to write my own, but it certainly has saved me many more hours lateron. And pleeease no such nonsense as "MSIE only" - because such beast certainly won't run on nice gadgets like the iPhone, my Zaurus, or my Nokia N800
Administering the practice computer network remotely
More importantly, once jailbroken, I could install a plethora of essential software - for example ssh server + client, which allows me to link remotely and safely into my practice network from wherever I can get a mobile phone connection. Since my practice runs all on Linux, I can do anything I want remotely via ssh! If my secretaries ring in distress because a printer does not work, or they forgot the password and can't log in - no matter what, I can fix it via my iphone. (Poor windows users who ever tried to administer a system remotely via RDP at GPRS speed are more likely to end up as psychiatric patients I guess).
Photodocumentation
What else can I do? I always found it cumbersome to document a case with photos - take out the camera (Where is it? Batteries full? Memory empty?), take the shot, connect camera to computer, transfer image, open health records, import image .... too many steps, too much work, takes too much time.
With the iphone - take a snapshot, and with a single click email to practice record system with patient id:comment as subject, done. All it took to make that magic work were a few dozen lines of Python script
Dictation / Voice recorder
Yes, you can do that with almost any modern phone - but the iPhone comes with 8GB of storage out of the box, and the user interface to access individual voice recordings is as simple and efficient as it gets (including "scrolling" through voice notes). Same as with the photos, I can simply email voice notes to my health record system. Didn't come out of the box though - a (free) 3rd party app had to be installed: VNotes
Unit conversion
I don't know what it is with Anglosaxons and their esoteric ancient measurement systems - SI units seem to have made little impression on my older patients. "John, you weigh 100 kg, that's too much" - "Dunno, Doc, what's that in 'stones'". "You are 176 cm tall" - "Oh, what's that in feet, Doc?" "Your baby weighs 3800 grams" - "Uh, how many pounds please?" and so forth.Unfortunately, while these measurements are taken and discussed, I am usually not in front of my computer screen where my practice software could be coaxed into converting nice and logical SI units into those magic ancient brain twisters that seem to defy any logic and systematics. No worries any more since the iPhone sits in my pocket - few taps on the screen, and the patient is enlightened. But a (free) 3rd part application is needed: Unit Converter
Podcasts & ongoing medical education
Working very long hours, I find it increasingly difficult to find the time to read journals. However, I spend quite some time unproductively in the car, driving to work or meetings. Listening to podcasts is an ideal way to make use of otherwise wasted commuting time. If only it was not so cumbersome to download them, transfer them to CD or MP3 player, and then not to forget to take them along in the car.
Again, the iPhone comes to the rescue, and yet again via 3rd party applications: MobileCast allows the iPhone to download podcasts automatically whenever within WiFi range (eg at home or in my practice), and all I have to remember is plug it into the FM transmitter (that also charges my iPhone) when entering the car.
Pocket Reference
Despite the small screen, the iPhone turns out quite useful for reading - documents in HTML or PDF format are no problem, plus various eBook formats. Again, thanks to 3rd party apps like PDFViewer or Books
Again, 8GB of storage is plenty of room for my most important reference works - and now I can read them whenever I need them.
No use nor fun without 3rd party apps!
If reading this blog creates the impression that the iPhone is not much use nor fun without 3rd party application - you are right. To me, as a rural doctor working in a semi-isolated area the iPhone is everything because of 3rd party apps, and would be nothing without.
I have provided links to a few of the software packages I use every day - however, in order to get and install them, all you need is jailbreaking the iPhone and installing the AppTapp installer - and all these beauties are just a single finger tap on the screen away. We can only hope that Apple sees reason one day and acknowledges that THIS is what iPhone users want! There is neither need nor point in eventually coming up with some other software installation and maintenance system.
Prevent iTunes from destroying your iPhone
Accidentally "upgrading" your iPhone via iTunes will not only erase all third party applications, but also undo the jailbreak and lock your SIM ard, essentially rendering the iPhone completely useless. It will take hours of work to restore all functionality a I found out from bitter experience. In order to save you such trouble, on every Mac that might ever come in contact with your iPhone, open a teminal and do:
chmod 000 ~/Library/iTunes/iPhone/Software\ Updates/This will prevent iTunes on that computer (or any other software for that matter) from having any access to the Update directory - hence no updates possible, until you reverse this restriction with
chmod 755 ~/Library/iTunes/iPhone/Software\ Updates/
