Handhelds and Healthcare Innovation

Healthcare organizations are turning to Handheld computers to streamline business processes and improve overall patient care. Using Palm handheld computers, healthcare providers can access and manage critical information at the point of care, where decision support is so critical.

Palm's focus on promoting solutions that assist in addressing critical healthcare issues -- patient safety, quality of care, decision support, HIPAA compliance, security -- has made the company a leading handheld provider for the healthcare industry. And because the open, flexible platform integrates easily with existing technology infrastructures, Palm handhelds also have become the preferred choice among healthcare administrators and IT managers.

Jackson Memorial Hospital Extends Handheld Strategy
Jackson Memorial Hospital, the teaching hospital for the University of Miami School of Medicine, hosts the nation's largest residency program for training anesthesiologists. Recently, the hospital began the first phase of a handheld initiative, purchasing 150 Palm handhelds for the residents, faculty and staff of the anesthesiology department. The first project was the conversion of paper-based clinical guidelines, such as the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and American Heart Association (AHA) recommendations, into interactive guidelines for the Palm handheld.

Jackson Memorial Hospital uses Gothic Software's Residency Partner, a custom software program that provides a comprehensive approach to tracking a resident's education, to track the resident's clinical experiences via Palm OS based applications. The department plans to use the handhelds for decision support and will deploy interactive applications focused on education, research support and clinical care, enabling access to critical information at the point of patient care.

"We are continuously exploring ways to integrate technology into the clinical environment in order to develop better ways to treat our patients, train our residents, and better utilize available data," said Thomas Powell, M.D., director of Anesthesia Information Systems for the Department of Anesthesia, Perioperative Medicine, and Pain Management at Jackson Memorial. "Palm handhelds are an important part of the future of healthcare informatics. We chose Palm because of its stability and commitment to supporting technology solutions that aim to make the practice of medicine more efficient and better for organizations and patients alike."

eAnesthesiaSoftware Develops Solutions to Streamline Efficiencies for Anesthesia Providers
Anesthesia providers can see up to 10 patients on an average day. Each patient record requires a minimum of four reports: the patient's anesthesia record, billing information, medication instructions and quality assurance. Previously, providers had to complete all four reports manually, laden with duplicate data, and hand-deliver them to the pharmacy and billing departments. Now, using eAnesthesiaSoftware MOSES, the provider has to input the information only once, and the software automatically updates all four reports and electronically delivers patient data to the appropriate departments.

Not only does this streamline administrative functions, but it also creates a uniform standard for reporting. Billing, pharmacy and administrative offices no longer have to call the provider to get clarification on medication or patient instructions due to poor handwriting or misplaced forms. Running on a Palm handheld, which fits comfortably in a lab coat pocket, the MOSES software provides mobility and ease of use for time-crunched medical professionals who are often running back and forth between pre-operative care, surgery and recovery.

"By removing the paper-based redundancies and streamlining reporting and billing procedures, the anesthesia provider can spend more time focusing on patient safety. In our business, that's the one thing that matters most," said John Michael Borza, president and chief executive officer of Pittsburgh-based eAnesthesiaSoftware.

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Real power is in wireless use ...

Token User @ 2/10/2003 2:03:11 PM #
... but have devices based around technologies like 802.11b and Bluetooth (and to a lesser extent 1xRTT/GPRS) been OK'd for use in hospital environments?

Just a question. I don't know the answer.

~ "Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed." - DV ~

RE: Real power is in wireless use ...
HandESoftware LLC @ 2/10/2003 3:51:56 PM #
Some one please correct me if I am wrong but...

I belive most MODERN, (i.e. purchased within the past 3-5 years) hospital equipment is shielded farily well from cellphones, PDA's and such...

I guess the problem is that most equipment is OLDER and not shielded and/or the hospital admin doesn't want to take a chance of a patient "coding" as you check your email!!

Wireless in Hospitals
devildoc @ 2/10/2003 9:56:56 PM #
If mobiles, 802.11b and bluetooth adversely affected critical medical equipment, there'd be people dying left and right from catastrophic equipment failures. Not that I have ever broken a hospital rule or ignored an overzealous charge nurse with an inferiority complex, BUT mobiles with wireless headsets and wireless networks ARE being used in closets, offices, and stairwells away from prying eyes in hospitals. While my personal observations and the lack of peer reviewed literature do not prove my assertation that the hospital administrators are merely obeying the orders of their lawyers, I challenge anyone to prove [in a peer reviewed journal] that a mobile has adversely interefered with a respirator.

RE: Real power is in wireless use ...
sessamoid @ 2/10/2003 11:09:28 PM #
802.11b frequencies have no significant adverse effects on hospital equipment that I can tell. We've had such a wireless network in our hospital for some time now, and if it significantly interfered with pumps, ventilators, etc. everybody would have been dead a long time ago. I can even (briefly) see the network with my iBook and Airport card, but it uses some funky encryption where it just "disappears" after a minute or so. Obviously not using WEP.

RE: Real power is in wireless use ...
mikestokes @ 2/11/2003 12:29:36 AM #
I can't agree more. I've worked in a hospital (the operating room specifically) for quite some time now and I've never seen a problem with cell phones or other wireless devices being used in close proximity to monitoring or other electronic healthcare equipment. The doctors use their cell phones in the OR all the time without any problem whatsoever. The whole anal retentiveness about the whole issue is quite unwarranted in my opinion. I would say that it's just a holdover from days gone by and nothing more. It's not an issue.

RE: Real power is in wireless use ...
bigRoN @ 2/11/2003 2:16:26 AM #
I am a nurse and worked for several years as a registry and travel nurse. Therefore, I have worked at quite a few hospitals. I have come to the conclusion that wireless devices do not adversly effect medical equipment... although I can't say the other way around is true (MRI). I've seen MANY hospitals using consumer wireless devices themselves. I've seen 802.11b used on laptops for gathering information from patients by registration clerks. I've seen cordless phones (47Mhz, 800Mhz and 2.4Ghz) that could be purchased anywhere being used. In the hospital I'm an employee at, we have those infamous signs with a picture of a radio and cell phone with a red circle and stripe through it, yet security and engineering use standard radios that are of pretty crappy quality. Being an ER nurse, I deal with people who were not expecting to be where they are and need to make arrangements and other plans with work or family members. Unless someone is irritating me, I will NOT tell them that they can't use their cell phone in the hospital. I have seen many co-workers (mostly day-shifters) yell at people in an unfriendly manner, telling them they can't use their cell phone in the hospital and point out those signs. I find that rude and I won't do it. I am considered the technology guru in the hospital I'm at, staff (nurses, doctors and anyone else) come to me for technology advice, yet when I try to tell them that wireless devices are of no real harm, they argue with me. I explain that the frequency band of medical wireless devices are different from consumer bands, and that I have NEVER seen any interference. I've given demonstrations to prove my point, yet they still argue. They only thing I've EVER seen that was unusual was when I put a radio right up next to a CRT monitor and the picture became distorted. Once degaussed, the monitor was normal again. I showed that using a magnet, which we keep around for pausing some pacemakers, did much worse damage.

RE: Real power is in wireless use ...
Sleuth255 @ 2/11/2003 10:55:40 AM #
Somewhat off topic but....

I suspect the same thing is going on in Airplanes too. I'm constantly yelled at to turn my TT off during takeoff and landing. They don't realize that my PDA is never off. Likewise, I'm relatively sure that cellphones don't affect airplanes either.

Handhelds in Healthcare

r0hh @ 2/11/2003 3:05:22 AM #
I was part of an R&D team in a local pittsburgh shop developing Medical Informatics software for the iPaq. I was always a big fan of Palm devices but they were horribly underpowered at the time. Hopefully new devices like the Tungsten series can wipe the board with pocketPC devices.
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