Are Crowd Powered Apps a New Invasive Species? – Innovation Creating Collateral Damage

What do the Cane Toad, Mosquito Fish  and the traffic app Waze have in common?

Cane Toads (Pic Courtesy of Sydney.edu.au)

Mosquitofish (Pic courtesy of National Geographic)

Waze (Courtesy of Waze)

 

Give up?

The are all innovations that created collateral damage.

Cane Toads were introduced to Australia in an effort to control the Cane Beetle which was destroying sugar cane.  The problem is that the can toad loved the environment and preferred eating anything other than the Cane Beetle.  As a result it is the ‘poster child’ for failed invasive species control measures.

Mosquito Fish were introduced to control mosquitos and in fact were instrumental in controlling Malaria outbreaks in South America, Ukraine and Southern Russia. However, they are extremely aggressive and if not watched, they can wreck aquatic ecosystems because of their competitive nature.

Waze?  I’m sure you’ve heard of it. Heck,  I’ve used it on occasion.  But, it too has solved one problem (helps people get to destinations more efficiently by leveraging the power of the crowd,) and created another: turning quiet streets into major thoroughfares.  As people travelling on the highways of California hit bad traffic, they turn to Waze to find alternate routes.  The result?  Nice, quiet neighborhoods that never used to see heavy traffic now have stifling traffic patterns.

A solution created a problem.

Collateral damage isn’t the only issue here.  The more I thought of this situation, something struck me.  Two of the three above are considered invasive species.  Is the third, Waze, also an invasive species?

Can an app be an invasive species?

An invasive species is a plant or animal that is not native to a specific location (an Introduced species); and has a tendency to spread, which is believed to cause damage to the environment, human economy and/or human health.

Using the above definition, (if we allow for the fact that apps aren’t plants or animals, but instead are used by animals,) can crowd powered apps be classified as a new type of invasive species (Appicus Crowdpoweredus) ?   If so, how are they controlled?  Should they be controlled?  Or the ultimate question:

Can they be controlled?

 

Would love your thoughts!!

3D Printing in the Future of Healthcare

Some  RSNA attendees listen to presentations by Radiologists, Researchers and other Physicians who are using 3d Printing in their practices and research

 

Today was my 3D Printing day at RSNA.  Spent the morning listening to some amazing work being done (Chaired by  Dr. Frank Rybicki), and the afternoon taking in the rest of the show.

First were presentations covering how flows of blood and other substances through blood vessels, could be confirmed using models.

Dr. Tam shared how 3d printing could be used to plan for, and create parts for, medical procedures.  He uses printed models in approximately 5% of his cases right now.  He also did an enlightening study that showed that when presented with 3d models, the majority of physicians in the study changed their surgical approach.  A model is indeed worth a 1000 pictures (or more!)

Dr’s Green and Mahani shared how 3d printing was used to save the life of a child whose bronchus would collapse and block airflow.  The video about this is below:

There is some amazing work at the Advanced Tissue Biofabrication Center at the Medical University of South Carolina. They are pushing the envelope printing living tissue. You can check out a Reuters Tech Video here.

Future directions for 3d printing in healthcare were summarized nicely by this slide:

Number one is very provocative, and I agree with it.  While Radiologists treated the creation of 3d models as a natural extension of reading 2d images, the work required to create 3d models can be done in conjunction with intermediary scientists and engineers, so that each discipline can play to its strengths.  In the future I can see a role for “Post Processing Technicians.” These folks would be integral members of the Radiologic team whose purpose is to crunch imaging data into 3d and beyond.

I would include material science advances as an influencer in the future of 3d printing adoption.

Also, while indirectly included in the above list, cost reimbursement and FDA regulations are major players as the field matures and the technology gets adopted.

After the presentations, I visited with 3dSystems, Stratasys and Materialise ,  These companies have made, and are making, significant investments in medical uses of their technologies.   This can only accelerate the adoption of 3d printing.

I left today excited and inspired by the work of these doctors and scientists.

Would love to hear your thoughts on the subject!

 

Designing Patient Experience at RSNA14

Today was my first day at the Annual Radiology Society of North America (RSNA) Meeting.  It’s a great conference to see what’s new in minimally invasive diagnosis and treatment.  What was especially evident was the emphasis on patient experience, on making the healthcare experience less intimidating and more interactive.

These machine wraps and environments from Bear Facts Entertainment make the environment more inviting and less intimidating for children (and this helps put parents at ease!)

Check out these Star Wars-eque looking MRI imagers from Chinese Company: Magspin Instrument Co

 

There are HD screens and vendor displays that deal exclusively with creating beautiful environments, like the works of  Physicist turned artist, Arie vant’ Riet:

Finding ways to enable radiologists and patients to share images and information across the myriads of health record systems is also integral to giving patients greater control of their healthcare.

There were also devices like the Medspira Breath Hold  system that help patients interact with the process to better improve the quality of images, or radiation treatments.

Last, but by no means, least, there’s the flare of Fischer-Giotto.  Fischer Medical Technologies conveys the elegant curves and movements of their digital mammography systems through a logo that seems more apropos on Michigan Ave than in a Radiology Conference.

It’s clear (Thankfully!!) that the healthcare industry is beginning to recognize that there’s more to

healthcare than just “Take two of these, four times a day, and call me in a week.”

 

I’ll be bringing you more from RSNA as the week continues! Would love to hear the thoughts of others that attended the conference.