As hospitals, clinics, and other healthcare organizations deploy electronic medical records (EMRs) and related solutions, it becomes increasingly critical to provide clinicians with convenient access to patient care records wherever they may be in the healthcare environment. To reduce information delays and accuracy problems that create obstacles to optimum clinical decision-making, caregivers need to be able to access and input patient information in real time at the point of care.

Hospitals already have deployed desktop PCs, laptops, and computers on wheels (COWs). However, the very limited portability and mobility of these workstations have impeded clinicians' workflows and limited information access, making it difficult to fully exploit the clinician's potential to improve care. Additionally, the user logins required to comply with current VA security standards consume a significant amount of nursing effort.

GTSI's Mobile Clinical Solution (MCS) is a Point-of-Care (POC) solution that enhances patient care, improves workflow and productivity, and integrates current technologies and services. The full solution includes a PC tablet; a mobile, wireless cart workstation with integrated power and storage options; and peripherals (scanner, keyboard, proximity badges).

GTSI's MCS is a fresh design developed after extensive research into identifying clinician needs that are not met by general-purpose laptop computers. The reference architecture focuses specifically on enabling improvements in patient care through a range of features and fitting them into clinician workflows. Along with appropriate software, the MCS makes a convenient, consolidated view of a patient's clinical data securely available to authorized care providers, when and where they need it, to enhance care and increase productivity.

Incorporating Motion Computing's MCA C5 Intel-based PC tablet, the complete solution is designed for use with a variety of systems, including the hospital's automated information system, Veterans Health Information System and Technology Architecture (VistA), the Computerized Patient Record System (CPRS), the Bar Code Medication Administration software (BCMA), and the electronic informed patient consent process, iMED Consent.

As a solution component, the C5 tablet represents a new category of clinical workflow enriched tools — and the only purpose-built wireless device created by, with, and for clinicians. The C5 was designed for clinicians to easily carry and use throughout their work shift without interruption, to be drop-and-spill tolerant and easily cleaned during daily use. Specific functionality has also been integrated into the C5 to support clinician workflows, including a barcode scanner, an RFID reader, a digital camera, and WiFi communications. The MCA C5 has been successfully used with a number of applications, including Guardian Edge "GE hard disk encryption," Air Fortress Client, ISS HIPS agent, McAfee antivirus software, BCMA, iMed Consent, and CPRS/VistA. The entire GTSI MCS has been field tested with the Department of Veterans Affairs' Veterans Health Administration and approved by the VA Bar Code Resource Office (BCRO) for use with bar coded medication administration (BCMA).

The solution enables clinicians to access patient care records and document a patient's condition in real time. This can aid in reducing transcription errors, enhancing workflow, and delivering faster, safer care. By implementing the MCS, clinicians will be able to provide the highest quality of healthcare by improving the overall patient experience.

With a built-in barcode scanner, the MCA C5 becomes a practical tool for matching each patient with the treatment being delivered, helping reduce medication-dispensing errors. Nurses can also use the barcode scanner to identify patients and verify themselves as authorized caregivers.

The MCA C5 design supports integration of a digital camera, to enable quicker and more detailed documentation of wounds, surgical sites, range of motion, and other items. Photos can be stored directly into the patient's electronic medical record (EMR), enhancing documentation and collaboration.

Built-in support for Wi-Fi technology facilitates connection to wireless area networks and enables the integration of technologies allowing the automatic uploading of patient vital signs and other data into the EMR. Without the limitations of a proprietary system, the MCA can fully support open standards, accommodate scalable infrastructures, and allow facilities to reuse the IT components they have in place today. By enabling more informed and immediate decisions at the point of care, the MCA C5 can help reduce medication dispensing errors and ease clinical workloads.

By equipping nurses and doctors with the technology to chart and check information at the bedside, GTSI's MCS allows them to spend more time with patients, deepening observations and empathy. And by pairing the solution with GTSI's Technology Lifecycle Management approach, providing for every stage from integration to training and support services to technology refresh, organizations are assured of total control over the MCS both now and in the future.

By integrating unified communications technology with Motion Computing's C5 MCA, doctors and caregivers can have mobile access to desktop IP Phone applications, capture and track patient information, conduct private and secure conversations, initiate messaging, webcasts and conferences, access lab results, conduct trainings, and easily find and contact colleagues.

Overall, unified communications technology enables more efficient collaboration between healthcare providers. Physicians and nurses have immediate access to updated lab results, radiology reports and other vital information. So no matter where their workloads take them, doctors always have the information they need to make an accurate diagnosis right at their fingertips.

Moreover, unified communications technology allows physicians to effectively treat patients even when the doctors aren't in the hospital. Physicians can use "presence" to customize when and how they are available, offering virtual office hours when they will be online to answer questions and talk with colleagues. A find me-follow me feature can locate a physician and even set all the doctor's communication devices to ring simultaneously, if desired, ensuring a doctor can be contacted when needed, day or night, even at home. Instead of having to go to the hospital, the physician can securely review the patient's chart digitally, instant message with colleagues, and provide recommendations from wherever the doctor may be.

Ultimately, a study conducted by Motion Computing and Intel Health found these specific benefits of a mobile clinical solution:

• 60% reduction in time consumed by vital signs documentation, saving each clinician 30 minutes per 8-hour shift.
• Clinical data latency (the time between capturing vital sign data and entering it into the EMR) was reduced by more than two hours.
• 83% reduction in the number of data items that needed to be transcribed, thereby reducing the potential for transcription error.
• Reduction in the average number of time-consuming clinician logins from 42 to 12 per shift.
• 20% increase in point-of-care charting beyond the automated vitals sign acquisition.