SAN DIEGO – Physicians rely on their cellphones about as much as they do their stethoscopes. With that in mind, Globaltel Media is looking to make the cellphone more useful.

Globaltel, based in San Diego, has launched two products designed to help healthcare providers keep in touch with their outlying physicians and deliver targeted messages to patients.

Global Campaign Manager allows users to manage two-way text messages through a centralized Web server. Alirti delivers audio, video and images through an embedded URL within the text message, allowing practices to keep in touch with their physicians no matter where they are.

“Texting is the fundamental way to communicate,” said Robert Sanchez, Globaltel’s president and CEO, who estimates that 98 percent of all
cellphones in the United States are now text-enabled. “We’ve made it so that it’s not just a one-way thing any more.”

Globaltel launched a pilot program with Rady Children’s Hospital San Diego in 2006, setting up a notification system for the hospital’s charity arm. The company now targets physician practices, including cardiologists and ophthalmologists, selling the service as a messaging system than can also facilitate images, video, even cardio strips.  The biggest use of the product now, said Sanchez, is in continuing education programs for physicians and other healthcare providers.

According to Nielsen Mobile, text messages have replaced phone calls as the predominant form of mobile communication – the typical U.S. mobile subscriber placed or received 357 text messages per month in 2008, compared to 204 phone calls.

David Flood, MD, uses Alirti to keep in touch with patients of his San Diego-based orthopedic practice.

“In my line of work, post-op care is crucial to patient recovery, and the Alirti technology enables me to provide my patients with the appropriate rehabilitation information in video format at any time,” he said in a press release supplied by Globaltel. “It is a great convenience and time saver to be able to provide clear instructions and examples as video directly to my patients’ mobile phones. The interactive nature of the Globaltel system also enables me to dialog with my colleagues via text messages for urgent consultation while away from the office.”  n
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