A week ago, you started a new prescription medication for acne. Today, you feel dizzy and short of breath and have difficulty concentrating. Your symptoms are not listed in the package insert as possible side effects of the drug, but why else would you be feeling so odd?
Unfortunately, there's no easy answer. Clinical trials are designed to show that a drug is safe and effective. But even the largest trials can't identify irksome or even dangerous side effects experienced by only a tiny proportion of those people taking the drug. They also aren't designed to study how drugs interact with one another in the human body -- a consideration that becomes increasingly important as people age and their medicine cabinets begin to overflow.
Now researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have devised a computer algorithm that enabled them to swiftly sift through millions of reports to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration by patients and their physicians and identify "true" drug side effects. The method also worked to identify previously unsuspected interactions between pairs of drugs, most notably that antidepressants called SSRIs interact with a common blood pressure medication to significantly increase the risk of a potentially deadly heart condition.
The research, which includes a list detailing several dozen of the most prominent drug interactions, was published March 14 in Science Translational Medicine. Russ Altman, MD, PhD, a professor of bioengineering, of genetics and of medicine at Stanford, is the senior author of the research, and graduate student Nicholas Tatonetti is the first author.
"The average 70-year-old is taking seven different prescription medications," said Altman. "The FDA has a database for patients and physicians to report possible adverse drug events, but it's very difficult to uncover true side effects because people vary in their medical histories, conditions and drug regimens, as well as in age, gender and environment. Some researchers have gone so far as to say, 'No one will ever get useful information out of all of this data.'"
Although the FDA has its Adverse Event Reporting System for doctors, patients and drug manufacturers to use after the agency has approved a drug, many of the more than 4 million reports in the database are little more than anecdotal -- there's no way to tell whether the fever, rash, dizziness, seizure or other unwanted reaction was a true side effect of the drug, a result of a combination of medications or even a simple fluke of circumstance (maybe the patient had a cold or other undiagnosed medical condition at the time of the event).
Tatonetti developed a way to run a kind of case control study within the data, matching up groups of people who were as alike as possible, with the exception of one drug variable -- say, a hypertension medication. If significantly more of the people on the drug reported an adverse event, such as headaches or vomiting, than did those who were not taking the drug, it is likely that the medication was indeed the culprit. A similar method can be used to analyze the effects of pairs of drugs.
"It sounds obvious, but it's a nifty statistical way to eliminate bias," said Altman. "And we found that the more things you can match between the groups, like other drugs the people have in common, the more likely you are to also unintentionally match for variables you may not have even thought about but that may affect the result."
If they are on an antidepressant, you know they are more likely to be female, explained Tatonetti. If they're also taking a statin, you know they may have a high-fat diet, he added. If they've been prescribed medication for an enlarged prostate, you know they are male. "By matching up as many of these variables as possible, we're also controlling for gender, age, diet and many other things that may not be directly included in the FDA database," he said. "This increases the predictive power of the technique."
Tatonetti and Altman used the technique on the database from the FDA's Adverse Event Reporting System to discover previously unidentified side effects and drug interactions. They then tested their predictions by analyzing the electronic health records of patients at Stanford Hospital & Clinics. They confirmed that 47 new drug interactions identified in the AERS study held true when analyzing the records of "real" patients. In particular, patients receiving both an SSRI and a class of blood pressure medication called thiazides were more likely (9.3 percent) to exhibit prolonged QT intervals on an electrocardiogram than patients taking either medication alone (4.8 percent vs. 6.5 percent, respectively). Prolonged QT intervals are associated with increased incidence of spontaneous arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death.
The researchers have created two publicly available databases of their work, named OFFSIDES and TWOSIDES, respectively.
So far the OFFSIDES database includes an average of 329 new adverse events for each of the 1,332 drugs included in the system. (The average number of adverse events listed on a drug's package insert is 69.) The TWOSIDES database identifies 1,301 adverse events, resulting from an analysis of 59,220 pairs of drugs that cannot be clearly assigned to either drug alone.
"This is a testament to the value of huge data sets," said Altman. "They allow us to throw out a lot of cases. When you start with millions of pieces of information, you can be pretty rigorous about weeding out those that don't match. And if you can arrive at even just a few hundred well-matched cases, that can give a good statistical comparison."
In addition to helping physicians to better tailor prescriptions for their patients, the database can also further drug discovery efforts by identifying medications with similar side effects. Previous research has shown that drugs with similar side effects may affect the same biological pathway, and may be useful for more than one clinical indication. For example, diazepam (marketed as Valium) and zolpidem (marketed as Ambien) share similar side effects and act on seven of the same protein targets, even though they're usually prescribed for different conditions.
"We're interested in understanding the biological effects of drugs in the body," said Tatonetti. "Can we connect these population-level outcomes to particular biological pathways? If so, we can learn a lot more about how drugs are acting in the body, and this in turn can help with drug discovery and in predicting possible future adverse events."
"This kind of pharmacoepidemiology is becoming increasingly important to understand how drugs work in the body," said Altman. "It can help a physician better and more safely tailor drug prescriptions to patients. It can also drive drug development and discovery by identifying shared biological pathways and targets among drugs with similar side effects."
15 March 2012
CiU saca adelante la tasa turística en Catalunya y el copago en sanidad con el apoyo del PP
El Govern de CiU ha logrado este miércoles sacar adelante la creación de dos nuevas tasas, una turística y otra farmacéutica (copago), gracias al PPC, que ha permitido con su abstención la aprobación en el Parlament catalán de la Ley de Medidas Fiscales y Financieras, que incluye los nuevos impuestos. La norma, conocida también como Ley de Acompañamiento de los Presupuestos, se ha sometido a votación en la cámara catalana con un mes de retraso, el que ha necesitado el Consejo de Garantías Estatutarias para avalar su legalidad después de que ICV-EUiA, SI y Ciutadans solicitaran su dictamen. La Ley de Medidas recoge dos de las tasas más polémicas de la negociación presupuestaria de 2012: un nuevo impuesto sobre las pernoctaciones turísticas, que comenzará a aplicarse el 1 de noviembre y el copago farmacéutico de un euro por receta, que se cobrará desde el 1 de junio, y del que quedarán exentos los enfermos crónicos con menos recursos y los beneficiarios de una pensión no contributiva. Otras consecuencias que tendrá la aprobación de la ley serán un incremento del canon por captación de agua, el recorte de un 15 % en la jornada laboral y la nómina de los empleados interinos de la Generalitat, así como la implantación de una tasa al acceso a la justicia.
*AGENCIAS
*AGENCIAS
Hacia la terapia individualizada en leucemia
Determinan las anomalías genéticas que mejoran la supervivencia en leucemia.
Lograr un tratamiento individualizado en cáncer es uno de los objetivos de la investigación. Ahora, gracias a una investigación de Universidad Case (EE.UU.) parece haberse dado un gran paso en una terapia a la carta en leucemias gracias a la identificación de los genes que mejoran la supervivencia de los pacientes.
El estudio, que se publica en The New England Journal of Medicine, ha identificado las mutaciones genéticas que están asociadas con una mejor supervivencia general con altas dosis de quimioterapia en pacientes con leucemia mieloide aguda (LMA).
De acuerdo con uno de los autores, Hillard M. Lázaro, estos resultados explican por qué algunos pacientes con LMA tienen más probabilidades de beneficiarse de una mayores dosis de quimioterapia con el fármaco daunorubicina.
-Terapia a la carta
«Este es un avance más en la era de la individualización en la atención de un paciente» explica Lázaro, que añade que los hallazgos proporcionarán una nueva e importante herramienta para predecir la respuesta de los pacientes a las terapias y evitará el sobre y el infratratamiento.
El trabajo analizó mutaciones en 18 genes de 398 pacientes menores de 60 años de edad con LMA que había sido asignados al azar para ser tratados con altas dosis de daunorrubicina o con la terapia estándar.
Los investigadores descubrieron que las mutaciones en dos genes (Dnmt3a y NPM1) y que las translocaciones del gen MLL (movimiento de una parte de un gen a otro gen) se relacionaban con los mejores resultados para los pacientes que recibieron las dosis más altas de quimioterapia con daunorubicina.
Según los autores, está será muy útil para planificar el tratamiento en el momento del diagnóstico. «Es decir, si el paciente tiene la mutación en cuestión, el médico puede seguir adelante y administrar la quimioterapia de dosis alta. Si no la tiene, una dosis más alta no sería beneficiosa».
Para Lázaro, los hallazgos muestran cómo la información genética se puede utilizar para «adaptar» la terapia para los pacientes. Ahora, «el desafío que tenemos ante nosotros es encontrar cómo proporcionar esta información genética de una forma oportuna y asequible para influir en las decisiones de tratamiento».
**Publicado en "ABC SALUD"
Lograr un tratamiento individualizado en cáncer es uno de los objetivos de la investigación. Ahora, gracias a una investigación de Universidad Case (EE.UU.) parece haberse dado un gran paso en una terapia a la carta en leucemias gracias a la identificación de los genes que mejoran la supervivencia de los pacientes.
El estudio, que se publica en The New England Journal of Medicine, ha identificado las mutaciones genéticas que están asociadas con una mejor supervivencia general con altas dosis de quimioterapia en pacientes con leucemia mieloide aguda (LMA).
De acuerdo con uno de los autores, Hillard M. Lázaro, estos resultados explican por qué algunos pacientes con LMA tienen más probabilidades de beneficiarse de una mayores dosis de quimioterapia con el fármaco daunorubicina.
-Terapia a la carta
«Este es un avance más en la era de la individualización en la atención de un paciente» explica Lázaro, que añade que los hallazgos proporcionarán una nueva e importante herramienta para predecir la respuesta de los pacientes a las terapias y evitará el sobre y el infratratamiento.
El trabajo analizó mutaciones en 18 genes de 398 pacientes menores de 60 años de edad con LMA que había sido asignados al azar para ser tratados con altas dosis de daunorrubicina o con la terapia estándar.
Los investigadores descubrieron que las mutaciones en dos genes (Dnmt3a y NPM1) y que las translocaciones del gen MLL (movimiento de una parte de un gen a otro gen) se relacionaban con los mejores resultados para los pacientes que recibieron las dosis más altas de quimioterapia con daunorubicina.
Según los autores, está será muy útil para planificar el tratamiento en el momento del diagnóstico. «Es decir, si el paciente tiene la mutación en cuestión, el médico puede seguir adelante y administrar la quimioterapia de dosis alta. Si no la tiene, una dosis más alta no sería beneficiosa».
Para Lázaro, los hallazgos muestran cómo la información genética se puede utilizar para «adaptar» la terapia para los pacientes. Ahora, «el desafío que tenemos ante nosotros es encontrar cómo proporcionar esta información genética de una forma oportuna y asequible para influir en las decisiones de tratamiento».
**Publicado en "ABC SALUD"
Reduced baby risk from another cesarean
A major study led by the University of Adelaide has found that women who have had one prior cesarean can lower the risk of death and serious complications for their next baby -- and themselves -- by electing to have another cesarean. The study, known as the Birth After Caesarean (BAC) study, is the first of its kind in the world. It involves more than 2300 women and their babies and 14 Australian maternity hospitals. The results are published this week in the international journal, PLoS Medicine.
The study shows that infants born to women who had a planned elective repeat cesarean had a significantly lower risk of serious complications compared with infants born to mothers who had a vaginal birth following a prior cesarean -- the risk of death or serious complication for the baby is 2.4% for a planned vaginal birth, compared with 0.9% for a planned elective repeat cesarean.
The mothers of these babies were also themselves less likely to experience serious complications related to birth. For example, the risk of a major hemorrhage in the mother is 2.3% for a planned vaginal birth, compared with 0.8% for a planned elective repeat cesarean.
"Until now there has been a lack of high-quality evidence comparing the benefits and harms of the two planned modes of birth after previous cesarean," says the study's leader, Professor Caroline Crowther from the Australian Research Centre for the Health of Women and Babies (ARCH), part of the University of Adelaide's Robinson Institute.
"The information from this study will help women, clinicians and policy makers to develop health advice and make decisions about care for women who have had a previous cesarean.
"Both modes of birth have benefits and harms. However, it must be remembered that in Australia the risks for both mother and infant are very small for either mode of birth," Professor Crowther says.
Cesarean section is one of the most common operations performed on childbearing women, with rates continuing to rise worldwide. Repeat cesarean births are now common in many developed nations.
In Australia in 2008, more than 90,700 women gave birth by cesarean, accounting for more than 31% of all births. Of Australian women who had a previous cesarean section, 83.2% had a further cesarean for the birth of their next child. In South Australia alone, repeat cesarean births amount to 28% of the overall cesarean section rate.
"We hope that future research will follow up mothers and children involved in this study, so that we can assess any longer term effects of planned mode of birth after cesarean on later maternal health, and the children's growth and development," Professor Crowther says.
**Source: University of Adelaide
The study shows that infants born to women who had a planned elective repeat cesarean had a significantly lower risk of serious complications compared with infants born to mothers who had a vaginal birth following a prior cesarean -- the risk of death or serious complication for the baby is 2.4% for a planned vaginal birth, compared with 0.9% for a planned elective repeat cesarean.
The mothers of these babies were also themselves less likely to experience serious complications related to birth. For example, the risk of a major hemorrhage in the mother is 2.3% for a planned vaginal birth, compared with 0.8% for a planned elective repeat cesarean.
"Until now there has been a lack of high-quality evidence comparing the benefits and harms of the two planned modes of birth after previous cesarean," says the study's leader, Professor Caroline Crowther from the Australian Research Centre for the Health of Women and Babies (ARCH), part of the University of Adelaide's Robinson Institute.
"The information from this study will help women, clinicians and policy makers to develop health advice and make decisions about care for women who have had a previous cesarean.
"Both modes of birth have benefits and harms. However, it must be remembered that in Australia the risks for both mother and infant are very small for either mode of birth," Professor Crowther says.
Cesarean section is one of the most common operations performed on childbearing women, with rates continuing to rise worldwide. Repeat cesarean births are now common in many developed nations.
In Australia in 2008, more than 90,700 women gave birth by cesarean, accounting for more than 31% of all births. Of Australian women who had a previous cesarean section, 83.2% had a further cesarean for the birth of their next child. In South Australia alone, repeat cesarean births amount to 28% of the overall cesarean section rate.
"We hope that future research will follow up mothers and children involved in this study, so that we can assess any longer term effects of planned mode of birth after cesarean on later maternal health, and the children's growth and development," Professor Crowther says.
**Source: University of Adelaide
EEUU: las campañas antitabaco logran reducir el número de muertes
La disminución en el consumo del tabaco entre los estadounidenses desde mediados de 1950 ha evitado unas 800.000 muertes por cáncer pulmonar entre 1975 y 2000, según un estudio dirigido por investigadores del Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
Los resultados del National Cancer Institute, el Instituto Nacional del Cáncer, que ha financiado el estudio, son el producto del trabajo de seis grupos de investigación en los EE.UU. y en los Países Bajos, y que han sido publicados hoy por el Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Los investigadores reconstruyeron las historias clínicas detalladas de fumadores nacidos entre 1890 y 1970, y luego calcularon las muertes por cáncer de pulmón asociados con estas historias empleando ecuaciones matemáticas. De esta manera, fueron capaces de estimar el impacto de los cambios en las costumbres de los fumadores como consecuencia del informe sobre el tabaco y la salud que se publicó en los Estados Unidos en 1964.
Los investigadores también realizan cálculos sobre las muertes por cáncer de pulmón entre 1975 y 2000 en dos escenarios:
-Si todos los fumadores de cigarrillos de Estados Unidos hubieran dejado de fumar a raíz del informe de 1964 y nadie hubiera empezado a fumar, estiman que 2,5 millones de personas no hubieran muerto de cáncer de pulmón (1,6 millones de hombres y 883.000 mujeres no habría sido diagnosticados con esta enfermedad).
-Si no hubiera habido programas y políticas antitabaco, y si los comportamientos de fumar no hubieran cambiado tras el informe de 1964, 552.000 hombres y 243.000 mujeres más hubieran muerto de cáncer de pulmón.
Desde mediados de la década de 1960, los esfuerzos de control del tabaco en los EE.UU. incluyen restricciones para fumar en lugares públicos, subidas de impuestos a los cigarrillos, publicidad para explicar los riesgos que comporta el fumar, etc.
Los resultados del National Cancer Institute, el Instituto Nacional del Cáncer, que ha financiado el estudio, son el producto del trabajo de seis grupos de investigación en los EE.UU. y en los Países Bajos, y que han sido publicados hoy por el Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Los investigadores reconstruyeron las historias clínicas detalladas de fumadores nacidos entre 1890 y 1970, y luego calcularon las muertes por cáncer de pulmón asociados con estas historias empleando ecuaciones matemáticas. De esta manera, fueron capaces de estimar el impacto de los cambios en las costumbres de los fumadores como consecuencia del informe sobre el tabaco y la salud que se publicó en los Estados Unidos en 1964.
Los investigadores también realizan cálculos sobre las muertes por cáncer de pulmón entre 1975 y 2000 en dos escenarios:
-Si todos los fumadores de cigarrillos de Estados Unidos hubieran dejado de fumar a raíz del informe de 1964 y nadie hubiera empezado a fumar, estiman que 2,5 millones de personas no hubieran muerto de cáncer de pulmón (1,6 millones de hombres y 883.000 mujeres no habría sido diagnosticados con esta enfermedad).
-Si no hubiera habido programas y políticas antitabaco, y si los comportamientos de fumar no hubieran cambiado tras el informe de 1964, 552.000 hombres y 243.000 mujeres más hubieran muerto de cáncer de pulmón.
Desde mediados de la década de 1960, los esfuerzos de control del tabaco en los EE.UU. incluyen restricciones para fumar en lugares públicos, subidas de impuestos a los cigarrillos, publicidad para explicar los riesgos que comporta el fumar, etc.
Study suggests link between H. pylori bacteria and blood sugar control in adult Type 2 diabetes
A new study by researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center reveals that the presence of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) bacteria is associated with elevated levels of glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), an important biomarker for blood glucose levels and diabetes. The association was even stronger in obese individuals with a higher Body Mass Index (BMI). The results, which suggest the bacteria may play a role in the development of diabetes in adults, are available online in The Journal of Infectious Diseases.
There have been several studies evaluating the effect of the presence of H. pylori on diabetes outcomes, but this is the first to examine the effect on HbA1c, an important, objective biomarker for long-term blood sugar levels, explained Yu Chen, PhD, MPH, associate professor of epidemiology at NYU School of Medicine, part of NYU Langone Medical Center.
"The prevalence of obesity and diabetes is growing at a rapid rate, so the more we know about what factors impact these conditions, the better chance we have for doing something about it," Dr. Chen said. Looking at the effects of H. pylori on HbA1c, and whether the association differs according to BMI status, provided what could be a key piece of information for future treatment of diabetes, she explained.
Type II diabetes causes an estimated 3.8 million adult deaths globally. There have been conflicting reports about the association between H. pylori infection and type II diabetes. To better understand the relationship between H. pylori and the disease, Dr. Chen and Martin J. Blaser, MD, the Frederick H. King Professor of Internal Medicine and professor of microbiology, analyzed data from participants in two National Health and Nutrition Surveys (NHANES III and NHANES 1999-2000) to assess the association between H. pylori and levels of HbA1c.
"Obesity is an established risk factor for diabetes and it is known that high BMI is associated with elevated HbA1c. Separately, the presence of H. pylori is also associated with elevated HbA1c," said Dr. Blaser, who has studied the bacteria for more than 20 years. "We hypothesized that having both high BMI and the presence of H. pylori would have a synergistic effect, increasing HbA1c even more than the sum of the individual effect of either risk factor alone. We now know that this is true."
H. pylori lives in the mucous layer lining the stomach where it persists for decades. It is acquired usually before the age of 10, and is transmitted mainly in families. Dr. Blaser's previous studies have confirmed the bacterium's link to stomach cancer and elucidated genes associated with its virulence, particularly a gene called cagA.
Regarding H. pylori's association with elevated HbA1c, Drs. Chen and Blaser believe the bacterium may affect the levels of two stomach hormones that help regulate blood glucose, and they suggest that eradicating H. pylori using antibiotics in some older obese individuals could be beneficial.
More research will be needed to evaluate the health effects of H. pylori and its eradication among different age groups and in relation to obesity status, the authors noted.
"If future studies confirm our finding, it may be beneficial for individuals at risk for diabetes to be tested for the presence of H. pylori and, depending on the individual's risk factor profile" Dr. Chen.
In an accompanying editorial in The Journal of Infectious Diseases, Dani Cohen, PhD, of Tel Aviv University in Israel, pointed out that while previous studies have addressed the association between type II diabetes and H. pylori in small samples, this study analyzed two independent large national samples of the general population. Dr. Cohen agreed with the study authors, suggesting that adults infected with H. pylori with higher BMI levels, even if asymptomatic, may need anti-H. pylori therapy to control or prevent type II diabetes. If the study findings are confirmed, Dr. Cohen wrote, they "could have important clinical and public health implications."
*Source: NYU Langone Medical Center
There have been several studies evaluating the effect of the presence of H. pylori on diabetes outcomes, but this is the first to examine the effect on HbA1c, an important, objective biomarker for long-term blood sugar levels, explained Yu Chen, PhD, MPH, associate professor of epidemiology at NYU School of Medicine, part of NYU Langone Medical Center.
"The prevalence of obesity and diabetes is growing at a rapid rate, so the more we know about what factors impact these conditions, the better chance we have for doing something about it," Dr. Chen said. Looking at the effects of H. pylori on HbA1c, and whether the association differs according to BMI status, provided what could be a key piece of information for future treatment of diabetes, she explained.
Type II diabetes causes an estimated 3.8 million adult deaths globally. There have been conflicting reports about the association between H. pylori infection and type II diabetes. To better understand the relationship between H. pylori and the disease, Dr. Chen and Martin J. Blaser, MD, the Frederick H. King Professor of Internal Medicine and professor of microbiology, analyzed data from participants in two National Health and Nutrition Surveys (NHANES III and NHANES 1999-2000) to assess the association between H. pylori and levels of HbA1c.
"Obesity is an established risk factor for diabetes and it is known that high BMI is associated with elevated HbA1c. Separately, the presence of H. pylori is also associated with elevated HbA1c," said Dr. Blaser, who has studied the bacteria for more than 20 years. "We hypothesized that having both high BMI and the presence of H. pylori would have a synergistic effect, increasing HbA1c even more than the sum of the individual effect of either risk factor alone. We now know that this is true."
H. pylori lives in the mucous layer lining the stomach where it persists for decades. It is acquired usually before the age of 10, and is transmitted mainly in families. Dr. Blaser's previous studies have confirmed the bacterium's link to stomach cancer and elucidated genes associated with its virulence, particularly a gene called cagA.
Regarding H. pylori's association with elevated HbA1c, Drs. Chen and Blaser believe the bacterium may affect the levels of two stomach hormones that help regulate blood glucose, and they suggest that eradicating H. pylori using antibiotics in some older obese individuals could be beneficial.
More research will be needed to evaluate the health effects of H. pylori and its eradication among different age groups and in relation to obesity status, the authors noted.
"If future studies confirm our finding, it may be beneficial for individuals at risk for diabetes to be tested for the presence of H. pylori and, depending on the individual's risk factor profile" Dr. Chen.
In an accompanying editorial in The Journal of Infectious Diseases, Dani Cohen, PhD, of Tel Aviv University in Israel, pointed out that while previous studies have addressed the association between type II diabetes and H. pylori in small samples, this study analyzed two independent large national samples of the general population. Dr. Cohen agreed with the study authors, suggesting that adults infected with H. pylori with higher BMI levels, even if asymptomatic, may need anti-H. pylori therapy to control or prevent type II diabetes. If the study findings are confirmed, Dr. Cohen wrote, they "could have important clinical and public health implications."
*Source: NYU Langone Medical Center
Los médicos madrileños dispondrán de una aplicación gratuita para móvil que facilitará el diagnóstico
Los médicos madrileños van a disponer de una aplicación gratuita para móvil que "facilitará el diagnóstico", mediante al acuerdo entre el Colegio de Médicos de Madrid (ICOMEM) e iDoctus, gracias a la cual podrán acceder a información de casi 600 patologías y cerca de 16.000 medicamentos
El presidente del ICOMEM, el doctor Miguel García Alarilla, aseguró que con esta herramienta "se van a evitar errores a la hora de prescribir un medicamento". Además, podrá permitir atender "a 20 pacientes más" cada semana, según calculan sus desarrolladores.
García Alarilla expresó su satisfacción por este acuerdo que "supone un apoyo fundamental para la práctica médica diaria", del que se podrá beneficiar todos los colegiados que dispongan de un 'Iphone', un 'Smartphone' o un 'Ipad'.
Además, el presidente de ICOMEM aseguró que este sistema de diagnóstico y prescripción de medicamentos va a tener un gran éxito, ya que "el 45 por ciento de los profesionales ya utiliza el 'Iphone' como una prótesis. El cien por cien de los médicos que lo tengan se van a descargar la aplicación", sostuvo. A su juicio, esta herramienta va a tener la misma importancia "que el ecógrafo para el ginecólogo. Es un elemento médico más", sentenció.
El acuerdo entre ambas entidades también contempla cursos de formación para divulgar la aplicación entre los sanitarios. "Queremos dar visibilidad a este tipo de aplicaciones, ya que nuestro objetivo es que los médicos lo prueben y lo usen", subrayó Díaz Alegre fundador de iDoctus.
La aplicación permitirá a cada médico “ganar 100 minutos semanales”
Por otra parte, esta innovación tecnológica, que se iniciará a finales del mes de abril, va a suponer "un ahorro de tiempo importante", señaló el presidente del colegio. En este sentido, el representante de la compañía informática, añade que "se van a ganar 100 minutos semanales en las consultas médicas".
Para él, "hay un exceso de aplicaciones médicas pero pocas que se usen en el día a día". Por ello, ha resaltado la importancia del sistema que ofrecen, ya que "es exclusiva para médicos y no para pacientes, como son la mayoría". La información de los medicamentos indicados para cada patología ha sido ofrecida por el Consejo General de Colegios Farmacéuticos, lo que "ayuda a controlar el gasto en este sentido", manifestó Díaz Alegre.
Respecto a la base de datos de las patologías, se actualizarán trimestralmente, mientras que la de medicamentos se hará semanalmente.
**publicado en "MEDICOS Y PACIENTES"
El presidente del ICOMEM, el doctor Miguel García Alarilla, aseguró que con esta herramienta "se van a evitar errores a la hora de prescribir un medicamento". Además, podrá permitir atender "a 20 pacientes más" cada semana, según calculan sus desarrolladores.
García Alarilla expresó su satisfacción por este acuerdo que "supone un apoyo fundamental para la práctica médica diaria", del que se podrá beneficiar todos los colegiados que dispongan de un 'Iphone', un 'Smartphone' o un 'Ipad'.
Además, el presidente de ICOMEM aseguró que este sistema de diagnóstico y prescripción de medicamentos va a tener un gran éxito, ya que "el 45 por ciento de los profesionales ya utiliza el 'Iphone' como una prótesis. El cien por cien de los médicos que lo tengan se van a descargar la aplicación", sostuvo. A su juicio, esta herramienta va a tener la misma importancia "que el ecógrafo para el ginecólogo. Es un elemento médico más", sentenció.
El acuerdo entre ambas entidades también contempla cursos de formación para divulgar la aplicación entre los sanitarios. "Queremos dar visibilidad a este tipo de aplicaciones, ya que nuestro objetivo es que los médicos lo prueben y lo usen", subrayó Díaz Alegre fundador de iDoctus.
La aplicación permitirá a cada médico “ganar 100 minutos semanales”
Por otra parte, esta innovación tecnológica, que se iniciará a finales del mes de abril, va a suponer "un ahorro de tiempo importante", señaló el presidente del colegio. En este sentido, el representante de la compañía informática, añade que "se van a ganar 100 minutos semanales en las consultas médicas".
Para él, "hay un exceso de aplicaciones médicas pero pocas que se usen en el día a día". Por ello, ha resaltado la importancia del sistema que ofrecen, ya que "es exclusiva para médicos y no para pacientes, como son la mayoría". La información de los medicamentos indicados para cada patología ha sido ofrecida por el Consejo General de Colegios Farmacéuticos, lo que "ayuda a controlar el gasto en este sentido", manifestó Díaz Alegre.
Respecto a la base de datos de las patologías, se actualizarán trimestralmente, mientras que la de medicamentos se hará semanalmente.
**publicado en "MEDICOS Y PACIENTES"
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