title: Use of personal digital assistants for retrieval of medical images and data on high-resolution flat panel displays.
abstract: For its new acute care hospital, the University of California at Los Angeles is evaluating innovative technology involving high-resolution flat panel display devices configured as "network appliances" that can be wall mounted for use in the retrieval and display of medical images and data. Physicians and healthcare providers can log on with wireless handheld computers, which can serve as an identification device as well as a navigational tool for selecting patient records and data. These data are displayed and manipulated on the flat panel display without the need for a keyboard or mouse. A prototype was developed with commercially available image display software, which was modified to allow the remote control of software functions from a handheld device through an infrared communication port. The system also allows navigation through the patient data in a World Wide Web-based electronic patient record. This prototype illustrates the evolution of radiologic facilities toward "shareable" high-quality display devices that allow more convenient and cost-effective access to medical images and related data in complex clinical environments, resulting in a paradigm shift in data navigation and accessibility.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, UCLA School of Medicine, 10833 Le Conte Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA. oratib@mednet.ucla.edu
authors.forename: Osman
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Ratib
authors.forename: J Michael
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: McCoy
authors.forename: D Ric
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: McGill
authors.forename: Minglin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Allen
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Brown
mesh_terms: D034201:Computers, Handheld; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D011873:Radiology Information Systems