Mar 5, 2009 11:47 am US/Eastern
Local Doctor Develops iPhone Application
PHILADELPHIA (CBS 3) ―
When Dr. Matthew Decaro walks into a patient's room, their face lights up. His casual demeanor puts them at ease as they exchange laughter and jokes, and the obligatory, "How are you feeling, better?"
It's obvious that Dr. Decaro loves taking care of people, but he also loves his iPhone. He calls himself a geek, proclaiming, "Most doctors tend to be geeks." In his case, however, being a techy has made him very popular. Dr. Decaro took his love of gadgets to the next level. He developed an iPhone application that is now downloaded by doctors throughout the Jefferson Health Care system where he works as a cardiologist. It is also in use at intensive care units nationwide.
The application is called ABG, and analyzes blood gas levels. It is in such demand because it dramatically speeds up the process of diagnosing a patient in a place where every second counts.
"When the iPhone first came out and people were able to download applications for it there were no medical applications," said Dr. Decaro. "This was probably if not the first one of the first applications that came out for the iPhone.
Other doctors in the ICU at Jefferson University Hospital demonstrated how the process works without the application. Numbers from arterial blood extractions are indexed in a computer. Doctors copy some of those numbers down and make calculations, sometimes on paper, and come up with another number that determines a diagnosis. After a lot of practice, doctors learn to do the calculations in just minutes, but it only takes a few seconds with the ABG application.
Medical student Kiran Devaraj says that gives him time with patients that he wouldn't otherwise have.
"Each time you save just a few seconds, that ends up adding up to minutes, tens of minutes and then hours over the course of the day. So in a place like the ICU, we end up being able to spend a lot more time with our patients," said Devaraj.
The other major benefit is the application is always right.
Dr. Decaro says he sleeps better knowing that the interns who are working through the night have a failsafe with them to stop them from making mistakes even when they're exhausted.
"It's a guide they can look at as their gold standard that they can say, yes, I got the right answer," said Decaro. "In the intensive care unit, things happen quickly and if you start making the wrong assumptions and acting on those wrong assumptions it can turn into a big problem."
The ABG application has been downloaded thousands of times and is getting rave reviews. To view the reviews, search for ABG in the iTunes application's store.
The service is free and improving care, thanks to the Jefferson cardiologist and his high tech hobby. Many would say that makes the doctor who calls himself a geek, very cool indeed. The thought gave Dr. Decaro a good laugh, "Okay good! I'll tell my kids that!"
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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