On the Road and
"in the Cloud?"
Technology Tips Used to Overcome the Challenges of a Modern Mobile Medical Doctor
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Dr. Steven Simmons
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By,
Dr. Steven P. Simmons
My medical practice as a Housecall Doctor requires mixing a number of challenging, rewarding, and fascinating elements in order to provide a personable style of medical care delivered in the comfort of one's own home.
But, it is not easy to stay-on-the-road and practice medicine in a modern
technological "cloud". Some of the challenges I face daily include bad traffic (as if there is 'good' traffic), dropped calls, car 'trouble', and, most recently Weather - with a Capital "W".
Most recently, the weather I experienced on June 13th's big storm can help me demonstrate how I used these tools to keep alive while in the path of a big storm.
So, enter stage West my arch nemesis for that day - - The Weather. The weather forecast of June 13 promising strong thunderstorms with a 'Tor-Con'
rating of "5", meant that there was a 50% chance of a tornado touching down within 50 miles of any location on that day.
Confident I could avoid any real danger by staying informed I counted on the free radar imagery provided by the National Weather Service. The images provided are no more than 10 minutes old but do require rudimentary interpretation skills most of us have honed over many
years of having the weather explained to us on TV.
Traffic is as unavoidable as the weather and is a daily problem for anyone living in a Metro area. If you are to avoid traffic, using a navigation tool that follows real-time cellphone tower data is a requirement. Currently, I use the "GPS Navigation X". It is available for one dollar and also allows access to your music without exiting the app which can be very handy. Basically, the app tracks the speed of other drivers' cell phones as they moved down the highway. This speed is then reported to the application on other people's phones allowing them to choose a different road.
I also keep up with the traffic by listening to the radio. In the DC area I strongly
recommend tuning your dial to 103.5 FM for WTOP since they update the traffic and weather conditions every ten minutes. Their website provides information on construction sites and wrecks as well.
Driving steadily forward is much preferred to finding yourself stopped on the side of
the road explaining your lack of a hands-free device to the Police as "hands-free" is the law in DC and Maryland. After much experimentation, I finally settled on one Bluetooth
headset, the "Jawbone Era." If you are
not driving a car with built in Bluetooth this is a very good option. Despite driving a noisy car I can hear the other caller and am also heard. It stays on my ear well and when a police officer commented during a housecall that it is a favorite of law enforcement officers I recall wishing I had known that before experimenting with other sets-- so I share this endorsement with you here.
So, back to the 13th of June. Armed with an iPhone, iPad, Bluetooth headset, radio, and all the 'right' apps with just a bit of hubris I was confident that I had planned for every eventuality. However, I had forgotten an oftquoted
19th century German general: "no plan survives first contact with the enemy".
It is a cliche that "timing is everything" but it is also true. With the storms moving
faster than normal (50mph- yikes!) my confident and late departure from a farmhouse south of Leesburg, VA set the stage for me to drive straight into the heart of a storm that would eventually drop an 'EF-0' tornado less than one mile from my house after following rather precisely the route of my planned commute home.
Looking at the radar I hurried away from a farmhouse (soon to lose trees and power) and drove north trying to 'beat' the storm to Leesburg. Unfortunately, promptly upon entering Leesburg, WTOP switched to the Emergency Broadcast System to announce that a funnel cloud had just been spotted entering Leesburg and anyone in a car was advised to get off the road and seek immediate shelter.
Disgusted that my plan had already begun to unravel I chose a large Safeway over a small 7-11 and running through sideways rain I sloshed in just as the power went out.
Twenty minutes saw me back in my car and 'chasing' the back westerly edge of the storm as I resumed my drive home.
As this storm had been predicted days in advance I had thought myself prepared by the formulation of a good plan and some really good apps. However, when it comes to practicing medicine the old-fashioned way while using my car - instead of the old-fashioned carriage or buggy of my long ago predecessors, I learned a valuable lesson about my medical office "on the road and in the cloud".......when it comes to Mother
Nature and staying truly safe; well, there's just not an app for that
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