Mayo Clinic has collaborated with Digital Cyclone, Inc., a Minnesota-based subsidiary of Garmin, Ltd., to launch a software application that delivers an array of health information and tools directly to cellular phones.
The Mayo Clinic InTouch? wireless health program will be available in February on Alltel Wireless, Sprint, and other major carriers’ wireless phones.
“Mayo Clinic’s mission has three elements: quality patient care, research to help cure diseases and education,” says Roger Harms, M.D., a Mayo Clinic obstetrician and gynecologist and the medical editor-in-chief for MayoClinic.com. “Our education function is not limited to training the next generation of physicians and other medical providers, though. We also see providing health information to consumers as essential. Through this new project we’re able to make it available to them wherever they are.”
Using Mayo Clinic InTouch, wireless phone subscribers have a rich health resource directly on their phone. A few keystrokes give consumers immediate access to:
Step-by-step first aid tips
A Symptom Checker that provides self-care guidelines or advises emergency care for more than 45 common symptoms in adults and children
More than 100 short health news videos
Timely health alerts and drug watches.
In addition, subscribers may enter their city or ZIP code to search for nearby emergency and urgent care facilities from a list of over 3,800 accredited providers. If the cell phone has global positioning system (GPS) capability, it automatically finds nearby accredited facilities without typing the city or ZIP code. The care center’s information is displayed in list format and shows the facility’s name, address and estimated distance.