So often lauded for its potential in the mobile health sector, the Apple iPad has experienced a rare setback with its rejection by staff at a children’s hospital in Seattle. According to CIO magazine, a group of clinicians at Seattle Children’s Hospital (pictured) tested iPads for accessing the hospital’s corporate network and running apps in a virtual desktop environment. They were not impressed by the experience. “Every clinician testing the iPad returned the tablet saying it wasn’t going to work for day-to-day clinical work,” said the hospital's CTO Wes Wright.

Specific shortcomings included electronic medical record (EMR) apps proving unwieldy on the iPad. And Apple’s new iCloud online storage was described as a cause for “trepidation” by Wright. The result is interesting because there is much anecdotal, and some firmer, material about how US clinicians favour the iPad. Just one month ago, Apple CEO Tim Cook said how well the tablet was doing in the US healthcare sector. He particularly mentioned the iPad’s ability to access patient records. Cook also said “over 80 percent of the top hospitals in the US” were either testing or piloting the iPad.