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Handspring IBM Palm HP Compaq Fujitsu Siemens Symbol Sony Toshiba Compare Software Case Studies PDA Glossary	case studies: The Medical Center Medical University Medical Domain Fiat Credit France United States Postal Service Sales Force Automation The Atlanta Journal Famous Footwear Van Sales Medical Center provides its physicians with handhelds for completely mobile, web-based access to clinical information anytime, anywhere. Healthcare providers access vital clinical information anytime, anywhere. Patient data, lab results, surgical reports - this is the kind of information that physicians rely upon to provide the best in patient care. The challenge? Getting this information to those that need it in the most efficient, cost-effective way. To meet this challenge, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center researched ways to provide its physicians with a solution that was both flexible and powerful - one which would let doctors access vital patient data with complete mobility. Medical Center chose a solution based on the Palm OS® platform, employing the Palm™ VII wireless handheld, Intranet access, and an Oracle database solution. The solution, provides clinicians with a physician directory lookup, paging and wireless access to email, secure access to confidential patient information, and wireless order processing for books and articles from the medical library. Prior to this implementation, physicians accessed patient information via web browsers residing on desktop PCs or the traditional way - by reviewing the patient's medical record. This dependency on desktop PCs limited the mobility of the physicians and required patient information critical to providing quality care to be accessed in the physician's offices or at the hospital itself. Today, using Palm VII handhelds, physicians quickly and securely obtain remote access to clinical information that resides in a variety of backend systems. Information such as lab test results, physical evaluations, consultations, surgical reports and admitting histories can be accessed via simple pull-down menus and pick-lists. This easy access gives physicians the information they need, when and where they need it. Access to these resources is controlled and secured to ensure that the confidentiality of the medical information is maintained. Cedars-Sinai quickly expanded its suite of wireless Palm OS® solutions. Physicians now have access to a directory lookup application that provides contact data for employees and physicians and lets users send email to others by simply tapping on the displayed email address. The solution also affords alphanumeric paging, letting physicians send messages to other clinicians' pagers, and an order entry application that lets them request article and book reprints from the medical center library. Palm VII handhelds are pre-loaded with third-party wireless applications useful in healthcare, such as HealthNet's MedLine medical database and Go's Translator application for language translation. "We chose the Palm VII handheld because of its ease of use, performance, and tightly integrated wireless networking. It's equipped with fast, elegant software, good power management, and requires minimal training," Cedars-Sinai plans to provide more capabilities to its users via wireless networking by enabling existing Web applications to run on the Palm VII. Cedars-Sinai is also investigating the use of new Oracle tools for the Palm OS to provide tighter integration between Palm VII applications and a wide range of departmental and enterprise-wide Oracle databases. By aggressively exploiting new technology such as the Palm VII handheld, Cedars-Sinai is able to maintain its leadership position as a world-renowned provider of exceptional patient care.
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