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When you need information on a health topic, the first thing you are likely to do is a google search. However, you will get fed up and frustrated very soon. Rather than help you find what you need, google will display hundreds of websites, many of which provide information which is outdated, unreliable , dangerous and even downright wrong ! You will just get confused and may end up sicker, simply because google has no way of judging how good or bad a medical website is. And as Mark Twain pointed out many years ago - " Be careful when you read a health book - you may die of a misprint !"



You need a better way of searching for health information as compared to google ! You need information which has been tested for its reliability and accuracy - knowledge which has been created by experts who understand your needs and specialise in providing only what you need - reliable , updated trustworthy information which is easy to read. You do not need hundreds of pages of rubbish - you need one page of clear, well-written information !




The good news is that there is a solution - the Healthwise Knowledgebase, which is produced by Healthwise, a non-profit organisation , and the world's largest producer of patient educational materials.

Try out this widget if you want to search the Healthwise Knowledgebase - it's a great way of finding reliable information on any health topic - and it's free !

When Osama was tracked down, Obama was advised that there were two options to deal with him - a bomb attack; or a finely crafted precise surgical strike using helicopters. Obama quickly figured out that a bomb was too heavy duty to use and would cause a lot of collateral damage. Why use a hammer to kill a fly ?

This is equally true when you want health information. While it's true that google indexes millions of pages and billions of kilobytes, a lot of what google crawls is just rubbish, and the results only end up distracting users; confusing them; and infuriating their doctors . Google's focus is on being comprehensive and regurgitating as many pages as it can find ( which makes sense , because they make their money by showing as many ads as possible).

When you need health information, what you need is reliable trustworthy information which has been screened and tested for its authenticity and readability. The last thing you want to do when you are sick is to wade through pages of garbage. You need a tool which offers you what you need, quickly and efficiently, without wasting your time !

This is exactly where specialised patient education companies such as Healthwise shine. Healthwise provides you with high quality accurate information you can trust - this is all they do, and they do it very well indeed !

Seeing is believing, and if you want to see what "prescription quality information" looks like, when you have a health-related query, please do your next search at Healthwise ! I promise you it will save you a lot of time - and a lot of headaches as well !

It's become a knee jerk reflex for most people to use the web when they have a medical problem. They need information, and it's quite logical that the internet is the first place they turn to ( most people live in nuclear families and don't have a family physician, so they can no longer tap into the insights of their family doctor or the wisdom of their grandmother).

While the web is a great source of health information, unfortunately, using google to search for information is not always a smart thing to do. This is because while google is a great search engine, it's not always good at helping you to find reliable information. Google finds lots of stuff - but a lot of it is poor quality garbage - and google is not smart enough ( yet !) to be able to separate the wheat from the chaff !

For health searches, quality is far more important than quantity ! You do not need hundreds of search results - you just need one page of reliable, trust worthy, updated, easy to read information !

This is where the Healthwise Knowledgebase comes in ! Try searching google for any health problem - and then try searching the Healthwise database - and let me know which is better !

This is a guest post from Aditya Patkar, Marketing Director, Plus91.

Doctors need to incorporate technology in their daily life to increase their efficiency. Let’s look at how Dr. Thakkar can use everyday easily available off-the-shelf inexpensive technology intelligently, to help him become more productive. .

1. A website and and Email Id
2. A smart Mobile Phone
3. A pen drive
4. A laptop or PC with Internet
5. An EMR solution

1. Website and Email Id:

a. Dr Thakkar’s contact Information with a google map is readily available , so that his staff does not have to waste time giving directions to patients as to how to reach the clinic !

b. Important patient information captured on the website: Dr. Thakkar likes each patient to fill in a comprehensive form before he sees them. In the past, patients would have to fill the form in the clinic, and this caused long lines of upset patients clogging his clinic. . Now he can ask his patients to fill this form online , and it comes to him as an email which he can read just before the patient comes in. This saves both his patients and him time, and allows him to see more
patients !

c. Patients from all across the world can now easily email their queries to Dr. Thakkar. This can help him to provide services remotely to his patients, improving his service levels and connectivity with his patients, and allowing him to attract patients from all over the world !

d. Dr. Thakkar does procedures where he needs to give instructions to his patients for pre-procedure preparation and postoperative precautions . Often patients forget the details, and keep calling him when he is busy in his clinic. These interruptions upset his workflow and concentration. Now he can re-direct them to his website , where all the instructions are written down in great detail , in multiple languages!

2. Mobile Phone:

a. Dr. Thakkar can now check his daily schedule on a mobile phone. The latest smart phones come with many calendar features and schedulers with alarms. Also by using Google Calendar or innovative EMR solutions , he can get reminder SMSs on the phone for appointments and operations.

b. Dr. Thakkar can access his Email on his GPRS enabled phone , which can let him see the latest blood report of his patient and take decisions quickly.

c. The latest phones also come with high quality cameras, so that he can now store X-Rays and reports as images at the click of a phone button.The latest EMR solutions now allow you to directly attach these images to the patient’s records also!

d. The phone also comes with GPS navigation systems. Dr. Thakkar can get where he wants to go quickly and safely, especially if he is doing a house visit .

3. Pen Drive: A pen drive is a small and low volume file storage system.

a. Dr. Thakkar can carry all his patient reports and word documents in his pen drive, which means he no longer needs to lug a brief case around to all the hospitals.

b. Dr. Thakkar can plug his pen drive into any PC and access his notes and presentation on the
go. This saves him time , as he does not need to burn CDs , or search through many papers. The data all the drive is all well-organised neatly into folders.

4. Laptop or PC with Internet

a. Dr. Thakkar can optimize the use of all this technology by having his own PC or laptop. Now all his data can be soft copy, easily transferable, viewable, and most importantly , searchable with ease!

b. Dr. Thakkar can now access his emails and patient documents quickly and anywhere on his laptop.

c. Dr. Thakkar sometimes has queries on new medicines and procedures. Now he doesn’t need to wait to read a journal or attend a conference. He can simply go onto the internet and search MDConsult ( www.mdconsult.com), the world’s largest online medical library. Why wait when all the latest medical information is all at your fingertips ? This saves you time, impresses your patients – and ensures you are at the cutting edge of medical science !

d. Dr. Thakkar need not wait for hard copies of patient reports and test results. Now he can have the soft copy emailed to him so he can check them in his office or on his laptop on the move. This saves him time later – and his patients are grateful, because he does not need to make them wait for a diagnosis.

5. EMR solution: A software which helps him with his patients and clinic

a. An intelligent EMR such as KlinCare saves Dr. Thakkar time and improves accuracy in retrieval of patient records. He can also analysemedical statistics keep his accounts, check his inventory and even manage referrals .

b. He can email reports and send SMS reminders to patients directly from theEMR . Now Dr. Thakkar is always on time and so are his patients, so they do not waste time waiting.

c. Dr. Thakkar likes to send his patient’s case reports to the referring doctor. He can now instantly email the report to his colleagues – who are very impressed with his promptness, and are happy to refer more patients to him !

These are just some inputs on how technology can help doctors make better use of their time, so that clever doctors like Dr Thakkar have more time to spend with their family !

Can you afford to lag behind ?

To know more about how we help you save time and improve your productivity , please visit www.plus91.in. If you need hand-holding and guidance, Plus91 offers free seminars for doctors, to help you learn how to master this technology as well !