Using home wifi

[dweebken]

I have two medical devices that force me to make a list of results for
the doctor. One is my blood pressure machine and the other is my
blood glucose tester.

I don't know if anyone else would find it useful, but I would like to
be able to transfer the data to my computer instead of having to write
it down. I know I can get an expensive model, but I think I have a
pretty economical solution by adding a USB port to each device.

Program the machines at the factory to send the data to an email
address stored on a USB wireless network adapter. I know that the
devices do not use this method now, but it would be an almost no cost
improvement if manufacturers would implement it.

Just so you know, there's another good newsgroup that might be able to
help you: alt.support.diabetes
There's also a web site called www.tudiabetes.org where there are
discussions on this sort of thing in different support groups. It's sort
of like a moderated newsgroup but on the web.

 

[Metspitzer]

Just so you know, there's another good newsgroup that might be able to
help you: alt.support.diabetes
There's also a web site called www.tudiabetes.org where there are
discussions on this sort of thing in different support groups. It's sort
of like a moderated newsgroup but on the web.

Thanks

 

[Jim]

You are correct that sending medical info email is a security issue. I
have run into problems from sending medical info to/from doctor's many
times. My hope would be to have my blood pressure machine email "me"
with the results. I could then fax them or send them to a secure web
site managed by the hospital. (My hospital does not have a secure web
site, but it should)

Faxing to the doctor locally is not really a problem, but faxing to
another state is a problem for me as I don't have long distance on my
phone. More and more people are using cell phones only and don't even
have a phone line to send a fax.

A secure web page would be nice for that.

It funny that you are concerned about e-mail security when doctors
around here (Ohio) don't write prescriptions, they type them up on their
electronic records keeping system, paid in part by the government, and
transmit them to the pharmacy, also records from my specialists are
transmitted to my family doctor.

Jim

 

[Metspitzer]

It funny that you are concerned about e-mail security when doctors
around here (Ohio) don't write prescriptions, they type them up on their
electronic records keeping system, paid in part by the government, and
transmit them to the pharmacy, also records from my specialists are
transmitted to my family doctor.

Jim

Actually I am not concerned about email security, but the hospital is.
I would be fine with having the hospital email me my labs, but they
insist on faxing it. Since I only have one phone line, I have to be
ready for a fax to get one. This means the lab has to call me and
tell me to turn on the fax machine.

Many times I ask the lab to send results through regular mail because
they refuse to email labs to me.

I just want a computer to computer way to get my labs to and from the
hospital. Right now, none exist.

My doctors do keep my pharmacy numbers for mail order and local
prescriptions on file. That was long past due though. In the not so
distant past, I have had the doctor write me a prescription and I
would go to the reception desk and have them fax the prescription to
my local pharmacy. They usually accept faxes from the reception desk,
but there have been problems with that. They would never take a
prescription from a fax that was not located in the hospital.

Sometimes the doctor has just handed me a prescription and I needed to
go home before having the prescription filled. To keep from making
two trips (or waiting 30-60min), I have asked the pharmacy if I could
fax the prescription and then bring in the original and they refused.

 

[Yousuf Khan]

I've seen some at my local CVS drug store that can be used with a PC to
record a journal of your blood pressure readings. Not sure how it hook
up to the PC, but it wouldn't surprise me if it were through a USB port.

I found a listing for a blood pressure machine that records your
readings to PC:

http://is.gd/cjN3H1, or
http://contecmedical.en.made-in-chi...ure-Monitor-Sphygmomanometry-CONTEC-08A-.html

Yousuf Khan

 

[Metspitzer]

I found a listing for a blood pressure machine that records your
readings to PC:

http://is.gd/cjN3H1, or
http://contecmedical.en.made-in-chi...ure-Monitor-Sphygmomanometry-CONTEC-08A-.html

Yousuf Khan

Thanks.
I know they exist. I understand that USB is the current wave of the
future.

My suggestion of adding a USB network adapter to automate the transfer
of data to computers was my idea of an economical way to add
"wireless" to things like blood meters and bathroom scales ect.

Special software for the data doesn't seem necessary if the test
equipment could just email out an excel file

 

[shellyf_DELETE_]

Actually I am not concerned about email security, but the hospital is.
I would be fine with having the hospital email me my labs, but they
insist on faxing it. Since I only have one phone line, I have to be
ready for a fax to get one. This means the lab has to call me and
tell me to turn on the fax machine.

Many times I ask the lab to send results through regular mail because
they refuse to email labs to me.

I just want a computer to computer way to get my labs to and from the
hospital. Right now, none exist.

My doctors do keep my pharmacy numbers for mail order and local
prescriptions on file. That was long past due though. In the not so
distant past, I have had the doctor write me a prescription and I
would go to the reception desk and have them fax the prescription to
my local pharmacy. They usually accept faxes from the reception desk,
but there have been problems with that. They would never take a
prescription from a fax that was not located in the hospital.

Sometimes the doctor has just handed me a prescription and I needed to
go home before having the prescription filled. To keep from making
two trips (or waiting 30-60min), I have asked the pharmacy if I could
fax the prescription and then bring in the original and they refused.

use efax.com?

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

Lots of nice ideas in this thread. However, most, if not all, medical
people, insurance and doctors, will not accept medical data via email. As far
as I'm concerned, I have no problem if someone sees my data, however, the
privacy thing and lawyers have got everyone running scared. The good news
is that most will accept a Fax because Faxes are considered secure as they
are point to point.

I know someone who knows, who tells me that fax numbers have been
misdialed when sending medical data...

One time when I had just moved and gotten a new phone, I also received
a long voice mail from a psychiatrist who had a lot to say about a
patient, including said patient's symptoms and name. BTW, this was
*after* I had put my own outgoing message on the system. Doctor and
Hospital are not parts of my name or my message...

I did erase the message without writing anything down and without
remembering anything.

 

[Yousuf Khan]

Thanks.
I know they exist. I understand that USB is the current wave of the
future.

Well, they have been the wave the future, if you consider the future to
be whatever has happened since 1998.

My suggestion of adding a USB network adapter to automate the transfer
of data to computers was my idea of an economical way to add
"wireless" to things like blood meters and bathroom scales ect.

Special software for the data doesn't seem necessary if the test
equipment could just email out an excel file

Actually, for that sort of wireless data transfer another sort of
connection standard already exists called Bluetooth. It's currently used
mainly to pair wireless headsets to your cellphone or computer. But it
can be used for almost any kind of wireless pairing.

Yousuf Khan