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MOBILE COMPUTING DEVICES
Mobile computing devices are computers that are carried about
and utilise wireless technology to
connect to wired networks. Mobile computing is well suited for vertical
industries such as healthcare, especially where a good number of healthcare
workers constantly on the move. The concept of anytime anywhere access is being
promoted as the way to go by mobile computing champions.
Mobile computing devices have been successfully deployed in
some areas of healthcare. They have been used in business areas such as patient
information tracking, messaging healthcare workers, billing and scheduling.
They have also been used in clinical areas such as point of care information
capture, decision support and electronic prescriptions. Below are descriptions
of devices that are used in healthcare.
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NOTEBOOK COMPUTERS
Notebook computers started off life being known as laptop
computers (because they could fit onto the user’s lap). The first commercially
successful laptop computer was the IBM PC convertible, which was introduced by
IBM in 1986 and since then many manufacturers, such as Toshiba, Apple Computers
and Dell, have released their own laptops.
Notebook computers of today are smaller than their earlier
laptop counterparts. They typically weigh less than 5 pounds and have a battery
life of about a few hours. They offer about the same power and functionality of
a desktop PC, but because they have to be specially designed and manufactured
they tend to cost a bit more.
Notebooks computers are sometimes basically used as mobile
workstations in healthcare. They are put on trolleys and wheeled around to
various points of care, where they access the network through wireless points
of access.
TABLET PC
The tablet PC is a lightweight PC that comes in the shape of a
flatbed panel and uses handwriting technology that allows a user to take notes
using natural handwriting on a stylus or digital pen-sensitive touch screen.
Input can also be entered using an onscreen or standard keyboard.
The first tablet PC was introduced by Apple computers in the
1980s and was called the Newton. It was commercially unsuccessful and its
production was discontinued.
However the interest in the tablet PC has been revived by
Microsoft and most of the commercially tablet PCs run its specially modified
Windows XP operating system -
Windows XP Tablet Edition
The tablet PC comes in tow versions – the slate version, which
uses similar to a large personal digital assistant (PDA) and connects to
peripherals such a keyboard or a mouse, and the convertible version, which
comes with an attached keyboard which can be folded back on itself.
The Tablet PC has, since it’s comeback, stirred some interest
in the healthcare sector (a market that Microsoft is definitely targeting for
the successful rollout of the Tablet PC). This is probably due to the fact that
it has a larger screen that the traditional PDA and it is not as heavy as the
notebook. Some organisations such as the Royal Brampton Hospital in London,
United Kingdom have already implemented mobile Electronic Medical Records (EMR)
solutions using the Tablet PC.
PERSONAL DIGITAL ASSISTANTS (PDAs)
A personal digital assistant is a hand held computer that
usually comes in two flavours the Handheld PC and the Palmtop PC.
The handheld PC is similar to a scaled down notebook that is
just small enough to fit into one’s hand. Most of the commercially available
Handheld PCs run on Microsoft’s Windows CE. It has not achieved the same kind
of market penetration, as the Palmtop PC probably mainly due to its small
keyboard which makes typing in text awkward.
The Palmtop PC, although smaller that the Handheld PC is
relatively more commercially successful. The Palmtop is small enough to fit on
to one’s palm and was originally designed as a digital personal organiser but
now comes with applications for email, web browsing word processing and
spreadsheets.
In terms of operating systems, they are just two major players
in the market, Palm, which has a lion share of the market with its operating
system Palm OS, and Microsoft with the Pocket PC operating system.
The PDAs produced by Psion were popular in Europe until the
company pulled the plug on their production and instead concentrated on
licensing its EPOC operating system, now renamed Symbian, to smart phone
manufacturers and mobile solution providers.
While PDAs are seen as a valuable information tool, their
acceptance within healthcare has been somewhat mixed. Their major drawback, it
seems is their small screen size. However that has not stopped them in used for
proving solutions in clinical areas such as updating patient information,
checking drug interactions, viewing patient history and providing decision
support. They are also used in areas such as ordering supplies, patient
scheduling and billing.
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Doctors Gadgets
Medical PDA Software and Resources .
http://www.doctorsgadgets.com
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