Mobile Point-of-Care Medical Photography: Legal Considerations for Health Care Providers.

Medical photographs have been used for decades to document clinical findings. The ease with which medical photographs can be captured and integrated into the electronic health record (EHR) has increased as digital cameras obviated the need for the film development process. Today, cameras integrated into smartphones allow for high-resolution images to be instantly uploaded and integrated into the EHR.

Patients' Experiences and Attitudes of Using a Secure Mobile Phone App for Medical Photography: Qualitative Survey Study.

Background: Point-of-care clinical photography using mobile devices is coming of age as a new standard of care for clinical documentation. High-quality cameras in modern smartphones facilitate faithful reproduction of clinical findings in photographs; however, clinical photographs captured on mobile devices are often taken using the native camera app on the device and transmitted using relatively insecure methods (eg, SMS text message and email) that do not preserve images as part of the electronic medical records. Native camera apps lack robust security features and direct integration with electronic health records (EHRs), which may limit patient acceptability and usefulness to clinicians.

Effect of Dial-Out Prefix Change on 9-1-1 Calls at a Large State University.

Background: Accessing the emergency medical services system via 9-1-1 operators is an effective way for patients to seek urgent health care; however, technological advances and telecommunication practices inundate the 9-1-1 and emergency services infrastructure with unintentional calls that delay response efforts to legitimate medical emergencies.

Objective: To determine whether the change in university-wide dial-out prefix from "9" to "7" reduced unnecessary calls to a 9-1-1 call center.

Methods: This is a retrospective study conducted utilizing information obtained from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) Department of Public Safety (DPS) call center.

Surgical Skills Feedback and myTIPreport: Is There Construct Validity?

Objective: To initiate construct validity testing of myTIPreport for procedural skill assessment in a prospective multicenter evaluation study.

Methods: Teachers and learners from a convenience-based site selection of obstetrics and gynecology (OBGYN) and female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery (FPMRS) training programs performed procedural assessments in myTIPreport. The specifically defined 5-point Dreyfus rating scale describing ability levels from novice to expert was used.

PhotoExam: adoption of an iOS-based clinical image capture application at Mayo Clinic.

Background: Mayo Clinic developed an internal iOS-based, point-of-care clinical image capture application for clinicians. We aimed to assess the adoption and utilization of the application at Mayo Clinic.

Methods: Metadata of 22,784 photos of 6417 patients taken by 606 users over 8040 clinical encounters between 3/1/2015 and 10/31/2015 were analyzed.