Background: The use of smartphones and portable tablet devices is increasingly more common and widespread in Australia. Usage amongst medical professionals is increasing in a number of fields. The purpose of this study was to gain insight into the current and future usage of these devices by orthopaedic surgeons and orthopaedic trainees, in addition to understanding the perceived impact on patient care.

Methods: A survey examining mobile technology usage was administered via email to a number of orthopaedic surgeons and trainees across Australia. Data regarding the respondents’ownership and usage of mobile technology, perceived future usage, and impact on patient care and productivity was collected and analysed.

Results: 97.7% of respondents currently use a smartphone, and 58.1% use a tablet device. The most common work use was for professional contact (78%), viewing journals,online educational resources (68.3%), and viewing radiology (46.3%). Respondents showed a significant interest in the ability to view x-rays and computed tomography (CT) in the future. Overall, surgeons indicated that mobile technology improves patient care and productivity, and they believe they will use it more often in the future.

Conclusion: Mobile technology usage is highly prevalent amongst orthopaedic surgeons and trainees in Australia. These technologies may be used to facilitate improved quality and timely provision of care.

Background: Moderate to high intensity activity is an important component in weight loss. The ability to use free technology to monitor activity would provide a useful clinical tool.

Methods: Three popular pedometer mobile applications (“iSteps Lite”, “Pedometer Lite” and “Lyr Free”) were compared to a conventional pedometer. Outcome measures included step recording, speed estimate, distance recorded over a fixed distance and steps recorded during car travel.

Results: All devices show inaccuracy in step count and speed estimate at varying intensities of activity. For measurement of 100 steps at medium intensity activity, the range of recorded step counts detected at medium sensitivity was 69.3 to 101.3. Valid and reliable results for step count were seen with the control pedometer and with one program at moderate sensitivity settings for moderate and high intensity activity. The most accurate distance recorded and estimate of speed over a fixed distance was from a program with Global Positioning System (GPS) functionality.

Conclusion: It is possible to determine a step count as accurate as a control pedometer with careful selection of program and calibration. When exercising over a distance, a program with GPS functionality leads to the most accurate determination of speed estimate and distance recorded.

Key words: Pedometer, Accuracy, Mobile Phone, Weight Loss, Technology, Software

Background: Integration of information technology and the birth of e-health has been a phenomenon in the last few decades and currently it is thoroughly embraced. It has been a tampered concept in the past to use portable devices to access digital radiology. However necessary resolution and processing capabilities have not been available to meet the demands. With the integration of high-resolution tablet devices and easy access touch software, we are now at a point where this concept can finally become a reality. As part of this feasibility analysis we have conducted a small experiment to assess tablet devices and its ability to manipulate and gain measurements of complex high-resolutioncomputed tomography (CT)images.

Methods: A human skeleton foot was put through an advanced 320 slice dynamic CT scanner. The obtained DICOM data was manipulated and distance measurements were taken using Osirix software between 2 very distinguishable points. The same 2 points were identified on the skeleton and the distances were measured precisely using calipers.

Results: When measuring distances using defined anatomical landmarks on a real skeleton and the CT scan on the iPad, the measurements correlated to within 1mm, with a mean percentage error of 1.3%. The tablet device image processing capability was very user friendly and ergonomic. However the software processing capability of the tablet was limited to simple distance measurements. The processing speed was inferior to a laptop and 3D reconstructions were not possible with the current software.

Conclusion: Tablet devices have reached the complexity needed to be an excellent portable digital radiology access point. However at the moment this remains as a concept envisioned but not applied. This concept currently is limited by the processing capability and the software design of these devices. This is undoubtedly going to change with the further advancement of tablet technology and its software.