PalmCIS: a wireless handheld application for satisfying clinician information needs

Area of Science:

• Clinical Informatics
• Health Information Technology
• Mobile Health

Background:

• Inadequate access to clinical information and poor clinician communication are identified as significant contributors to medical errors.
• Preliminary studies at New York Presbyterian Hospital highlighted these critical issues within the healthcare setting.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a secure and usable wireless application for accessing patient information in clinical settings.
• To address the identified gaps in information accessibility and communication among healthcare providers.

Main Methods:

• Development of PalmCIS, an extension to an existing Web-based clinical information system.
• Integration of wireless personal digital assistant (PDA) technology for end-to-end secure data access.
• Focus on achieving high system usability for clinicians.

Main Results:

• PalmCIS provides wireless access to essential patient information via PDAs.
• The system is designed with a strong emphasis on end-to-end security measures.
• Usability was a key consideration throughout the design and development process.

Conclusions:

• Wireless handheld technology, exemplified by PalmCIS, offers a viable solution to improve clinical information accessibility.
• The developed PDA application can potentially mitigate medical errors by enhancing clinician communication and data availability.
• Future directions include further development and integration of mobile health solutions in clinical workflows.