title: PalmCIS: a wireless handheld application for satisfying clinician information needs.
abstract: Wireless handheld technology provides new ways to deliver and present information. As with any technology, its unique features must be taken into consideration and its applications designed accordingly. In the clinical setting, availability of needed information can be crucial during the decision-making process. Preliminary studies performed at New York Presbyterian Hospital (NYPH) determined that there are inadequate access to information and ineffective communication among clinicians (potential proximal causes of medical errors). In response to these findings, the authors have been developing extensions to their Web-based clinical information system including PalmCIS, an application that provides access to needed patient information via a wireless personal digital assistant (PDA). The focus was on achieving end-to-end security and developing a highly usable system. This report discusses the motivation behind PalmCIS, design and development of the system, and future directions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Informatics, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA. liz.chen@dbmi.columbia.edu
authors.forename: Elizabeth S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Eneida A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Mendonça
authors.forename: Lawrence K
authors.initials: LK
authors.lastname: McKnight
authors.forename: Peter D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Stetson
authors.forename: Jianbo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lei
authors.forename: James J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Cimino
mesh_terms: D003195:Computer Communication Networks / Q000295:instrumentation*; D016494:Computer Security; D003199:Computer Systems; D034201:Computers, Handheld; D003258:Consumer Behavior; D020000:Decision Support Systems, Clinical; D006751:Hospital Information Systems; D016519:Hospitals, Religious; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D016347:Medical Records Systems, Computerized; D009518:New York; D011845:Radio; D014584:User-Computer Interface