A mobile app developed by a pair of former UCSF medical students could help doctors collect more accurate medical histories from patients, even if they don’t speak the same language. Called MediBabble, the free, donation-supported iPhone app lets doctors play common medical questions aloud in five languages: Cantonese, Haitian Creole, Mandaran, Russian, and Spanish. Patients can respond via yes/no answers, gestures, or scrolling on the device. Alex Blau, who began developin the app three years ago with fellow medical student Brad Cohn, says the app can help doctors get through the crucial medical history portion of a patient encounter faster and more accurately despite language barriers. “Ninety percent of diagnoses come from the patient’s self-reported medical history, so the ability to communicate is critical,” Blau says in a feature posted this week at UCSF’s website. “Time is not an asset doctors or patients have. You need that information when you need it,”
Author: Wade Roush
Between 2007 and 2014, I was a staff editor for Xconomy in Boston and San Francisco.
Since 2008 I've been writing a weekly opinion/review column called VOX: The Voice of Xperience. (From 2008 to 2013 the column was known as World Wide Wade.)
I've been writing about science and technology professionally since 1994. Before joining Xconomy in 2007, I was a staff member at MIT’s Technology Review from 2001 to 2006, serving as senior editor, San Francisco bureau chief, and executive editor of TechnologyReview.com. Before that, I was the Boston bureau reporter for Science, managing editor of supercomputing publications at NASA Ames Research Center, and Web editor at e-book pioneer NuvoMedia.
I have a B.A. in the history of science from Harvard College and a PhD in the history and social study of science and technology from MIT. I've published articles in Science, Technology Review, IEEE Spectrum, Encyclopaedia Brittanica, Technology and Culture, Alaska Airlines Magazine, and World Business, and I've been a guest of NPR, CNN, CNBC, NECN, WGBH and the PBS NewsHour. I'm a frequent conference participant and enjoy opportunities to moderate panel discussions and on-stage chats.
My personal site: waderoush.com
My social media coordinates:
Twitter: @wroush
Facebook: facebook.com/wade.roush
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/waderoush
Google+ : google.com/+WadeRoush
YouTube: youtube.com/wroush1967
Flickr: flickr.com/photos/wroush/
Pinterest: pinterest.com/waderoush/
View all posts by Wade Roush