Mayo Clinic Health software for mobile phones

February Mayo Clinic and Digital Cyclone (a subsidiary of Garmin) have collaborated to develop 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 next week offering wireless phone subscribers a rich health resource directly on their phone with 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, health news videos, health alerts and drug watches.

"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."

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.

Content for the Mayo Clinic InTouch program primarily comes from MayoClinic.com and Mayo Clinic's Medical Edge syndicated news products. Customers can subscribe to the Mayo Clinic InTouch program for US$2.99 per month. A list of wireless carriers and phones supported can be found here. http://www.digitalcyclone.com/mayo. http://www.mayoclinic.com/