The app allows the user to view photos of other users' cases and patients. One really cool function is if a user posts the images from of CT, you can scroll to view the slice by slice progression. And if its a full body scan, you can rotate around the body. It really feels like using imaging programs.
This app provides information for healthcare providers about radiological and nuclear emergencies. There is a website as well that has more data, images, and background material to supplement the app. The app has extensive information regarding patient care in the case of an emergency. They provide management algorithms, dose estimators, scarce resources triage tools, isotopes of interest, countermeasures (Rx), emergency contact information, videos, and information regarding triage.
The policy addresses the "vulnerable" population of EMS personnel who are underprepared or not accompanied by law enforcement officers.
Funding appears to come from the university, along with the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.
This work was supported by Grants-in-aid for the Cancer Control Policy from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Japan.
While this app is tailored for emergency situations, I would find it hard to believe that a physician who is in an emergency situation regarding radiological or nuclear danger would pull out their iPhone or Android to quickly find the proper dosage or way to triage patients. Although this app does suggest review before an emergency and print-outs from their website that can be kept with a physician in this type of situation, I do think it would be difficult for a physician to use their cell phone in this case. This app also works without data or wifi, which is good. But I feel that a physician might not want to take out their phones in an emergency situation, especially if it's because of nuclear spills or something to that nature that can ruin and contaminate their phones (and PPE).
This has been referenced in a number of articles involving similar topics.
Methods used by Farmer, et al include collecting data from the study done in Baltimor in the 1990's. They analyzed the statistics and observations found as main points of their argument. The model used in Haiti and the results from other methods implemented by physicians in those areas are also used as arguments to strengthen the article.
The author is Byron Good, Ph.D. He is an American anthropologist and teaches medical anthropology at Harvard Medical School. His main focus is mental illness and the cultural meanings of it. He also explores patient narratives and the perspectives of non-Western medical knowledge and compareds different mental health systems. He has done research in Iran, Indonesia, and the US. He has several publications including papers, books, and editted volumes.
This was a retrospective study. While not the most accurate and well supported way to conduct a study, due to the effects of recall bias, it was really the only way to gain the data that was presented in the report. There isn't really anything new about the style of research.