iPad Mania in Healthcare

The iPad has been a regular topic on EMR and EHR since last year when we first wrote about the Apple iPad EMR. While it’s normal for there to be a lot of hype around the announcement of a device like an iPad, I must admit that the hype around the device hasn’t really slowed down any.

If you’re a blogger and want your article read, all you need to do is mention your iPad and people will click through to read about it. I’m not immune to it either. Just take a look at the list of giveaways at HIMSS. If you’re not giving away an iPad, then you probably don’t belong there.

One healthcare IT vendor on a HIMSS LinkedIn thread recently said they were giving away an iPod at HIMSS. Turns out that was mistake. Of course, he meant to say they were giving away…wait for it…an iPad. Think how lucky Apple is that hundreds of iPads will be given out at the largest Healthcare IT conference on the planet (30,000 people attending). Plus, Apple didn’t even have to pay for the promotion.

With all these free iPads hitting the healthcare IT world, I wonder how many more iPads will be purchased. Now some might wait to see what the second generation iPad will look like (I wonder if some creative vendor will giveaway the second generation iPad instead of the first generation), but no doubt there’s some mythical quality to the iPad. You see someone else using it and want one. At least I do. I’m not even sure why I want one, but I do. It’s not because everyone else has one cause I like to buck trends. However, there’s just something really nice about the form factor of the iPad tied with all its apps.

The real question is how well will the iPad do in an enterprise situation. I’ve started to see stories come out talking about the challenges of IT staff in supporting and deploying large numbers of iPads in their organizations. One such story had the CEO promise everyone iPads for Christmas. Then, the CIO had the amazing challenge to distribute and support thousands of iPads in their organization. You can’t take back a Christmas gift.

Since this is an EMR and EHR site, let’s just say that from my point of view, the EMR and EHR apps for the iPad still have a ways to go. I’ll be sure to do an informal poll of all the EMR companies I talk with at HIMSS about their “iPad EMR strategy.” I’m certain that they all have one. I’ll be interested to know EMR companies various approaches.

Of course, if you don’t like to run with the popular kids, maybe you should check out the Blackberry Playbook in Healthcare. I’ve heard it’s a great device and maybe they’ll actually care about the enterprise. I’m pretty sure the iPad is positioned that they won’t care all that much about the enterprise.

If you are going to HIMSS and want to learn about my giveaway. Tomorrow, I’ll post the details on EMR and HIPAA about how to win a 42″ HDTV. That’s over 4 times as big as the iPad’s little screen.

About the author

John Lynn

John Lynn is the Founder of HealthcareScene.com, a network of leading Healthcare IT resources. The flagship blog, Healthcare IT Today, contains over 13,000 articles with over half of the articles written by John. These EMR and Healthcare IT related articles have been viewed over 20 million times.

John manages Healthcare IT Central, the leading career Health IT job board. He also organizes the first of its kind conference and community focused on healthcare marketing, Healthcare and IT Marketing Conference, and a healthcare IT conference, EXPO.health, focused on practical healthcare IT innovation. John is an advisor to multiple healthcare IT companies. John is highly involved in social media, and in addition to his blogs can be found on Twitter: @techguy.

7 Comments

  • Glad to be called a “creative vendor!” We actually are raffling off the second generation iPads in our booth, #5963. Mobility in the OR is definitely a hot topic for HIMSS11.

  • Glad to hear it. It won’t have the instant satisfaction of receiving the iPad right then and there, but will be a nice giveaway. I wonder how many of the iPads are the wireless version versus the 3G versions.

    Either way, I know I want one. I’ll give some nice coverage on my site to any vendor who gives me one:-) Particularly if you’re an EHR vendor and I can try your EHR on the iPad.

    Are you seeing a lot of iPad use in the OR?

  • Not in surgery yet, but seeing a lot of demand in areas like LnD, pain clinic… we’re actually also doing a daily in-booth presentation on the latest mobility solutions for the OR that we’re really excited about.

  • Graet post, and I am delighted to see so many people are embracing the iPad AND other devices. Check out Mitochon Systems http://mitochonsystems.com and learn more about how the iPad and the cloud converge. Booth 1106.
    Mitochon Systems is free, yes FREE, is certified and is so simple to get up and running.
    To the Cloud……….

  • You cannot use Citrix and run desktop software on the iPad and think that’s going to be okay. I bet good native apps are around the corner. Enterprise will be last, though. We’ll probaby not see that until 2012.

Click here to post a comment
   

Categories