Well, I guess I have an answer to my recent question of what the next step is for tablet and smart phone apps in healthcare. The FDA has just approved the first app for diagnostic radiology.
It’s interesting to note the care they took to test not only for secure data encryption but also readability on a variety of devices.
For a couple of decades now, senior care facilities have invested in radio-frequency-based systems to protect residents at risk of wandering. Typically, the resident wears a small tag on the wrist or ankle that triggers an alarm if they approach a monitored exit.
This kind of targeted protection to residents who need it enables homes to remain, well… homelike! No need for locked doors or other restrictions of movement.
The fact is, however, that RF technology has changed a lot over the last 20 years, giving you more options for protecting not just wandering residents but all residents.
The key here is having receivers to pick up tag messages not just at exits, but throughout the facility. Once you have this total coverage, a range of new options appears: emergency call, resident locating, or monitoring of remote devices like a fall monitor on a wheelchair.
Although not all vendors offer this kind of functionality, there’s enough competition out there that the price has come way down — so it’s something to consider if you happen to be in the market for a wander management system.
For some real life stories of facilities leveraging their wander management system for other applications, visit the Stanley Healthcare website.
The incredible popularity of the Apple® iPad™ and smart phones of all kinds is quickly making an impact on the healthcare market.
At the recent Consumer Electronics Show, there were all kinds of new tablets on display, including some specifically aimed at healthcare. A recent white paper by Voalté, which develops point-of-care software for healthcare, states that already close to ¾ of doctors already carry a smart phone.
Stanley Healthcare has gotten in on the act too. At the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN) convention in September, we demoed a trial version of an iPad app for the Hugs system.
But what are the particular needs of healthcare for mobile computing, and can current technology and solutions meet those needs? Mark Lyall of the Healthy Living blog has taken a shot at defining what healthcare professionals might look for in a smart phone.
But there’s a big difference between choosing the best tool for you as a healthcare professional and designing an integrated solution that embeds these devices into clinical workflow. That requires coordinated decisions around infrastructure and technologies, and the availability of specialized apps. Not to mention the need to comply with HIPAA and other regulations.
I don’t think anyone’s yet come up with a “template” to smoothly embed smart phones/tablets into healthcare, but I’d be very eager to hear how your organization is approaching this challenge!
I’d like to start off my first post for the Making Rounds blog with a bit about what topics I’ll be focusing on:
- Patient safety and security technology: How can technology help healthcare providers reduce their exposure to falls, infant abduction, and other risks to patients and staff?
- Technology trends: What direction will technology for patient safety and security take in the coming years?
- Risk management in healthcare: How can hospitals better assess and manage patient security risks?
- Communications: How can hospitals, healthcare providers, and manufacturers like SHS, better communicate to patients and the community?
I am an expert in Healthcare communications and well versed in the other topics. I am fortunate in being a part of multi-discipline team here at Stanley Healthcare, and in having the chance to frequently talk with many healthcare professionals.
I hope you’ll find something worthwhile in these posts, and I look forward to opening up a dialog with all who have similar interests.
