RxInformatics.com

“After three months of rumors, details surrounding Epic Systems’ partnership with Apple for a mobile phone-based electronic health record (EHR) application have come to light: Just a few days ago, Epic System’s iPhone application, called Haiku, became available on Apple’s AppStore. Haiku provides authorized clinical users of Epic’s Electronic Health Record with secure access to clinic schedules, hospital patient lists, health summaries, test results and notes. Haiku also supports dictation and In Basket access. Haiku works on both the iPhone and iPod touch,” according to the app’s description on the AppStore.”

This is a very interesting turn of events as rumors regarding Apples new tablet entering the healthcare arena have been swirling around the internet. Could Haiku be the precursor to what we’ll see with the Apple tablet? I sure hope so.

Source

This weeks cool technology comes by way of a comment left at RxInformatics.com in response to a recent post I wrote on smartphones and pharmacy practice.

The author of the comment, @pillguy, is an iPhone fanboy and pharmacy technology guru.

@pillguy: “The iPhone certainly has some promising applications related to EHRs. Airstrip is one of the coolest I have seen.

The smartphone takes PDAs to the next level with access to realtime information. I can see a TheraDoc, Pharmacy OneSource, or Zynx type clinical monitoring/alerting app fit in with the Airstrip suite nicely.”

Installing and using Citrix Receiver on your iPhone/iPod Touch

While at ASHP Midyear a colleague and friend of mine, @pillguy, was able to pull up the pharmacy system at his hospital using Citrix on his iPhone. At that moment I was attacked by a green monster and nearly consumed with envy. I can not yet match this feat of superiority with my Droid, but I'm hopeful.

Citrix Receiver is a free download from Citrix Systems, Inc. available at the iTunes store. To use Citrix Receiver simply go to the iTunes store, download it and follow the onscreen instructions. Below are some screen shots using Citrix Receiver to access applications at my facility.

LIVEdigitally » Blog Archive » The Tablet That Nobody Really Wants…

The author presents some great points for the use of tablet computers in mainstream computing. However, do they have a home in heathcare? Jerry provides a good summary of their use on his website.

Jerry Fahrni » Tablet PCs in pharmacy practice – The technology

The biggest question for me is how will they fit with more portable devices, such as an iPhone?
I can see the need for 2 devices in healthcare. One that is extremely mobile, allowing touch/click access and workflows, mostly for viewing information. The second is for input. Let's face it, a slate tablet is really worse than many phones for input, and much less portable. It does have more screen real estate, but that is about it. For pharmacy practice directly, there is a need to review labs and patient information to make decisions. We also need to write notes. Most of this is done in the hospital environment, where we have access to computers. Maybe I am a cynic when is comes to this technology in the healthcare sector, but right now I do not see a firm niche for its use.

“Your Next Computer” was the feature article in the October 8, 2008 issue of InformationWeek (www.informationweek.com). This article dealt with the question, “Is the smartphone the new laptop? Can we really ditch our Windows-powered portables when we travel, in favor of BlackBerry, iPhone, Windows Mobile or Symbian–powered hand sets?”

Many business professionals are exploring the option of leaving their laptop at home when they travel. If they can lighten their load and still access their company data, customer relationship software and other tools that are needed by the business professional, why not?

If business professionals can use smartphones as tools to increase their time spent with customers, then surely we in healthcare can find a way to help maximize our time and efficiency with our patients. One example of an institution that is way ahead of the technology curve is Doylestown Hospital, a community medical center located near Philadelphia.

The hospitals web site discusses their transition to the use of a smartphone by their physicians in order to gain “access to patient’s vital stats, medical reference applications, and breaking health alerts to provide collaborative and efficient patient care.” The iPhone (www.apple.com/iphone/enterprise/doylestown.html) allowed the physician staff access to the hospital’s electronic medical record system (MEDITECH Client Server 6.0) through the Safari browser, which required secure authentication and provided audit-trail security.