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Hand-held Device Changes Practice


September 3, 2008

The experience of Marc Tenzer, M.D., demonstrates how hand-held computers can change the practice of medicine.

For years, the cardiologist has used a Blackberry from Research in Motion Ltd., Waterloo, Ontario, as his answering service, pager and link to other caregivers. Now, it’s also an important decision support tool running software from Epocrates Inc., San Mateo, Calif.

“My Blackberry and I are inseparable,” he says. “The only time I don’t have it with me is in the shower.”

Tenzer spent a recent Saturday at the bedside of one of his cardiac patients who was in an intensive care unit suffering from shock. The cardiologist had inserted a catheter into the patient’s heart to measure various pressures and other indicators in hopes of getting to the bottom of the problem.

Throughout the day, Tenzer ran a series of mathematical formulas to analyze the data gathered by the catheter and make decisions on fine-tuning the patient’s medications, eventually overcoming the shock. This was not unusual, as many interventional cardiologists use the formulas when treating critically ill patients.

But instead of having to rely on memorized formulas, Tenzer used software loaded on a hand-held device.

“A lot of the things I do as an interventional cardiologist have fairly complex formulas involved,” Tenzer says. “Without the device, I would have to memorize the formulas and use a calculator. This saves me time. And it’s easy to forget a formula if you don’t use it for a few days.”

In addition to the Cardio Math formulas, the physician frequently uses the Epocrates software to access a drug database, using a function called Multi Check that alerts him to possible adverse drug interactions for his patients.

“I can be sitting in a restaurant and someone calls me about a prescription, and I can use it as a drug reference,” Tenzer says. “I have a lousy memory for these drugs. There are always new names, new products and repackaging of groups of old products. You can’t possibly keep up with all of this.”

To read the Group Practices department in the September issue of Health Data Management, which describes Dr. Tenzer’s use of the hand-held device, click here.

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