As a service to the healthcare IT community and as part of the BIDMC's strategic planning process, we're studying the best practice implementation of mobile devices in clinical settings.
Mobile devices can take many forms
*Handheld barcode scanner/printer such as used by rent-a-car agencies
*iPhones and iPads
*laptops and tablets
*computers on wheels
*various bluetooth devices that separate bar code reading, data entry, and printing
*voice recognition systems such as Vocera
Mobile devices can have many purposes
*Positive patient id at the bedside - scanning a barcoded wristband to verify patient identity as part of medication and lab workflow
*Lab label printing at the bedside
*Result viewing
*Test ordering
*Vital sign entry
*Dictation
*Reference/knowledgebase access
*New and innovative applications - just scan the Apple App Store for health related software. At Harvard we use mobile devices for students to capture information about their clinical experiences such as the diagnoses of patients they have treated.
*Web access
*Part of a geolocation system using triangulation of wifi signals
For the next 4 weeks, Ankur Seth, a Duke MBA Candidate will be speaking with
*CIOs throughout the country to understand their current and planned mobile device deployments
*IT staff at BIDMC and Harvard
*Clinicians at BIDMC
*Selected vendors
He would welcome the opportunity to speak with you or your designate about innovative products you have deployed or are considering, especially those which support laboratory and medication workflow. Everything we learn will be posted on my blog and in articles we'll share openly.
If you would like to share your mobile strategy to inform this effort, please email Ankur Seth at ankur.seth@fuqua.duke.edu. Thanks for any input you can offer
6 comments:
Since you're a use of the Cache database you should take a look at iWD which is a framework for rapid iPhone/iPad web app development. See http://gradvs1.mgateway.com/main/index.html?path=ewd
A good resource for him would be HisTalk Mobile. Today they have three whitepapers up, one from Columbia University entitled "Barriers and Gaps Affecting mHealth in Low and Middle Income Countries."
Beware of being overly Apple (iphone, ipad) oriented. They can easily lure you in but the goal should be to avoid vendor lock-in. The market is on the tipping point for a huge amount of great healthcare apps for many different mobile devices.
I think you have to consider the software in conjunction with the hardware. Current software does not reflect the current hardware capabilities.
This is a great article at the Tacoma News Tribune about MultiCare and Franciscan electronic medical records systems and their recent developments. Although I do not work for either regional provider, I have spoken to nurses employed by MultiCare, both in the clinics and home-care programs. They use laptops for charting. At the hospital they are currently deploying the work-on-wheels (WoW) project. Here is a link:
http://www.thenewstribune.com/2010/02/07/1060474/better-medicine.html
I believe having mobile devices as the access point for content and document management applications already being used by hospitals is the direction we are headed in.
Mobile devices usually require minimal ramp-up time for the vast majority of non-technical users in the hospital setting. Having said that it makes it very intuitive to have smart phones and the like used as access points for CMS' etc.
Best regards,
Saud Juman
President
PolicyMedical
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