SuperBetter Healthcare - It's All a Game

Today's keynote speaker at the Cerner Health Conference applied some of the positive attributes of online gaming to her own recovery from a head injury. Jane McGonigal, PhD is the director of Game Research and Development at the Institute for the Future in Palo Alto, California. She was named one of the top 35 innovators changing the world by the MIT Technology Review.

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Dr. McGonigal's research has shown some surprising positive benefits from playing online games, kids being more helpful after playing a game in which one wins by cooperating, military servicemen with increased coping skills through gaming. Application of her gaming skills and concepts to her own healing process allowed her to "win" over the physical symptoms and depression she suffered after a concussion to her head. That experience lead he to believe that healthcare would benefit by getting people As engaged in managing their own health as they are at playing online games.

Read more about Dr. McGonigal's innovative research at the Institute for the Future by clicking here - http://www.iftf.org/user/46

Think Big - Keynote Speaker Dr. Ben Carson

 I am attending the Cerner Health Conference (CHC) in Kansas City this week. The opening keynote speaker was Dr. Ben Carson, a renowned pediatric neurosurgeon at John's Hopkins Children's Center. 

His talk was very inspirational as he outlined how to overcome boundaries. He has overcome the boundaries he faced as an underprivileged youth and as an adult diagnosed with cancer.

Dr. Carson summed up his advice with words whose initial letters spell out THINK BIG:

Talent - Honesty - Insight - Nice (as in BE nice) - Knowledge  |  Books - In-depth learning - God

THINK BIG is Dr. Ben Carson’s philosophy which promotes outstanding academic achievement and dedication to helping others. Children, students, and adults have all found that when they THINK BIG, they are on their way to achieving their goals.

 

Learn more about Think Big | Carson Scholars Fund here.

 

Cool Technology of the Week

I was lucky enough to receive an Apple IPad as a gift and have not been able to put it away.  I predict that the iPad and other many similar devices are going to be the emerging clinical platform of choice for health care in 2011.

Apple.com | Office docs are just the beginning.

On iPad, you can review and edit common office documents such as Microsoft Office and iWork files. You can also create beautiful presentations from scratch, craft complex spreadsheets, annotate PDFs, and access important files on your corporate network. Keep on top of your most important documents on iPad.

In future posts I will be exploring the use of these devices and the implementation of them in health care environments.  

Nicholas Christakis: How social networks predict epidemics | Video on TED.com

Thought provoking social networks and epidemics worth considering.

Nicholas Christakis: How social networks predict epidemics | Video on TED.com

Providing Free Healthcare to People in Ecuador

I have been privileged to participate with this organization, which provides free healthcare to people in Ecuador. 


Amigos de Salud is a grassroots, not-for-profit 5013C volunteer medical organization that recruits providers and sponsors trips to underserved countries in order to provide medical and surgical care to those who are otherwise unable to afford it. Participants pay their own way and provide and assemble medical equipment and supplies for two , occasionally three, trips a year. 



Learn more about this organization at http://www.amigosdesalud.org/aboutus.html

Australia Here I Come

Going to start posting about my transition from the US to Australia.  See the video below to get a flavor for my new environment.