On Friday, October 29, 2010, HSLS sponsored a conference on mobile technology in the healthcare environment. Guest speakers from Georgia and North Carolina, along with representatives from UPMC and Pitt, shared their perspectives on mobile computing with more than 100 attendees.
The conference began with a panel discussion, moderated by UPMC’s Chief Medical Information Officer Daniel Martich. Panelists included Roman Cibirka (Medical College of Georgia), Iltifat Husain (iMedicalApps.com), Rasu Shrestha (UPMC), and Pamela Smithburger (University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy). Topics discussed ranged from the use of mobile devices in medical school to how patients can use text messaging as part of their health care. Following the panel discussion, break-out sessions focused on each of these topics. Cibirka, vice president for Instruction and Enrollment Management at the Medical College of Georgia, demonstrated how his students use a virtu
al reality dentist office to better practice dentistry. Iltifat Husain, a fourth year MD/MPH student at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, discussed how he became the founder and editor in chief of iMedicalApps.com, an online publication that reviews medical applications. Mobile resources available at HSLS was the topic of the wrap-up presentation by Fran Yarger, HSLS assistant director for Computing Services, and Nancy Tannery, associate director for User Services. For more information on this year’s conference, please visit www.hsls.pitt.edu/mobile.
Given the high level of interest and discussion in the field of mobile technology in health care, HSLS is looking forward to planning a similar conference next year.
~ Julia Jankovic