Secure remote access to a clinical data repository using a wireless personal digital assistant (PDA)

TCP/IP and World-Wide-Web (WWW) technology have become the universal standards for networking and delivery of information. Personal digital assistants (PDAs), cellular telephones, and alphanumeric pagers are rapidly converging on a single pocket device that will leverage wireless TCP/IP networks and WWW protocols and can be used to deliver clinical information and alerts anytime, anywhere. We describe a wireless interface to clinical information for physicians based on Palm Corp.'s Palm VII pocket computer, a wireless digital network, encrypted data transmission, secure web servers, and a clinical data repository (CDR).