News

Overextended staff is the top concern among healthcare IT professionals surveyed recently concerning obstacles to providing better patient care.Healthcare communications company Avaya conducted the survey, hosted by market research firm Exhibit Surveys, Inc., at the Avaya booth at HIMSS11 Feb. 20-24 in Orlando, Fla. A total of 130 surveys were completed.

Epocrates is No. 1 on Fast Company magazine's list of 10 most innovative companies in healthcare. Two other healthcare information technology companies - Voxia and GE - made the healthcare list at No. 3 and No. 7 respectively. Cleveland Clinic came in at No. 4.

Doctors' online behavior shows that when looking for health information they most often reach content through natural search and direct navigation - like most Internet users. But unlike most users, when they conduct searches they have a "clearer picture" of what they want.This is according to a report released by ComScore, Inc. and pharmaceutical insights company ImpactRx.

With telephone services down, social media messaging has played a significant role in communicating to the public during and after the devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan on March 11. Twitter and social networking sites like Facebook are seeing spikes in traffic concerning the earthquake, tsunami and radiation threats in Japan and abroad. But social media is also being used in the U.S. to collect donations for relief efforts and find out whether family or friends are all right.