Intel, Oracle and Orion Health have announced the launch of a pilot for a new mobile computing device, designed from the ground up for use by clinicians in hospital and community environments.
The Motion C5 Mobile Clinical Assistant (MCA) is lightweight rugged tablet PC with a built in carrying handle designed to withstand the knocks and spills of a busy hospital while also being easily disinfected. The device is designed to provide doctors and nurses with access up-to-the-minute patient records and to document a patient’s condition.
The Hospital Universitario Son Dureta in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, already use Orion Health’s Concerto Medical Applications Portal, which integrates all the systems into one seamless view.
They wanted to be able to view these data files on the move and so approached Intel to pilot the new C5 MCA, an upgrade to the MCA first launched in Europe in February.
Orion’s marketing manager, Richard Cotman, told E-Health Europe: “The hospital had been successful in using Concerto to pull all their data together into one screen and now the nurses and clinicians wanted to be able to view these on mobile devices as they did the ward rounds. We had heard of the successful pilots in the UK and suggested that they too tried out this technology which had massive potential.”
Using RFID technology, integrated into the MCA, to read patient wristbands, the doctor or nurse will be able to access patient information such as demographics and clinical results (e.g. blood tests, scans etc).
The deployment of Orion Health’s clinical software onto the Motion C5 MCA will enable patient data to be available at the point of decision regardless of whether the patient is in a bed, on a stretcher, or being moved in a wheelchair. The healthcare professional will be able to validate the data by sharing it directly with the patient.
“Hospital Son Dureta has made enormous progress in supporting clinicians with information technology in the past couple of years,” said Joan Marques, CIO at Hospital Son Dureta.
“The next logical step is to make these information tools mobile so clinicians can access patient data wherever they happen to be in the hospital. We are excited about the potential of mobile devices such as Intel’s MCA to improve clinical practice and deliver safer care to patients.”
Barcode scanning and RFID should directly help with improved patient identification and safety helping reduce medication errors. Bluetooth connectivity meanwhile will allow the MCA to link to patient diagnostic devices and even a wireless stephascope, which featured on early prototypes.
Intel vice president, Gordon Graylish, assistant general manager EMEA, said the MCA is designed to enable "nurses to spend more time with patients, do their jobs on the move while remaining connected, and manage the administration of medications"
Data sent to the MCA will be obtained from the hospital’s Oracle Healthcare Transaction Base (HTB) after authorised clinicians request it by logging into the Concerto portal. The MCA screen size is large enough to be able to easily read and act on data presented.
The device can also be used to access the hospital’s accident and emergency department electronic whiteboard and find beds which need your attention, before deleting the case from the waiting list system.
An Oracle spokesperson told EHE: “This presents an exciting opportunity for one of the Balearic island’s busiest hospitals to make treatment care a lot more faster. At a time when tourism is at a peak and hospital staff are rushed off their feet, devices such as this are a welcome aid in taking data from systems and presenting them wirelessly, giving staff and patients peace of mind.”
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