February 25, 2004
Doctors should think twice before diagnosing based on a camphone shot
The Medical Defence Union has advised doctors to think twice before using picture mobile phones to take and send digital pictures to assist in the diagnosis and management of a patient's condition, reports E-Health-Media
"The new guidance followed press reports on doctors already using mobile phone picture technology to aid diagnosis. These have included reports that A&E doctors in one hospital are reviewing images sent by fire fighters to decide whether to assist at the scene or prepare the hospital for dealing with serious trauma; and another where doctors were reported to be sending x-rays by mobile phone."
MDU medico-legal adviser, Dr Nicholas Norwell, warned that doctors needed to be aware of some of the medico-legal pitfalls, particularly around the security of such images, the issues around patient consent and potential to inadvertently send an image to the wrong person".
See related articles:
- Firefighters are testing an emergency photo messaging scheme to help save more lives
On a more positivie side, a recent study found "that dermatology waiting times were reduced when GPs took a Polaroid picture of their patient's visible symptoms and included them in referral letters to dermatologists. In future, GPs could be using picture messaging, rather than instant cameras, in schemes such as this".
The Permanent Link to this page is: http://www.textually.org/picturephoning/archives/2004/02/003060.htm