Apple Inc. (AAPL) iPhones Used Alongside Stethoscopes?

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) iPhones and iPads have brought volumes of research and encyclopedic information into a user’s pocket or small suitcase. A doctor’s office may still have shelves full of textbooks and diagnostic guides, but it’s become to the point now with mobile technology that those reference books in the doctor’s office are starting to gather dust – not because doctors know everything, but they’re able to use a reference device that is in their pockets. These items would be good tools even for investors like billionaire fund manager Julian Robertson of Tiger Management.

It’s becoming that iPhones by Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) are becoming as valuable as the familiar stethoscope. A recent article in the New York Times pretty much goes so far, saying that iPads, iPod Touches and iPhones are re-defining the practice of medicine with the availability of immense resources contained in apps and Web sites.

One such example of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) iDevices being used in these environments si with the use of the MASH platform (manage, analyze, sustain and harness) – which allows patients to collaborate with doctors’ offices, hospitals and clinics. A patient with an Apple Inc. (AAPL) iDevice can use this platform to check-in, describe symptoms, send health-insurance details and even virtually walk the facility. Information that is inputted is then sent to the proper department for quicker interaction with the arriving patient, and the billing process can be initiated more quickly and efficiently as well.

However, there are teachers in medical schools who, while they appreciate and admire the value that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) iDevices add to the medical profession, they do continue to emphasize that these devices are just tools and do not replace the personal touch of interacting with patients and their bodies directly. But certainly Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has been very involved in making its iDevices for more than just personal entertainment – iDevices were also supposed to have value and utility in many different forms, like a pocket-sized computer.