title: INCA - Individual Nomad Clinical Assistant - supporting nurses with mobile devices.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A completely structured nursing record has been deployed in the 8 hospitals of the University hospitals of Geneva. Even with laptops, the access to the records restrains nurses' mobility during their bedside work. It has lead to a strong demand for mobile devices.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  There are several papers showing that mobile computers can lead to increase time for data acquisition, increased errors and omissions. Thus, there are important challenges at developing these tools, while respecting the mobile paradigm and the needs for qualitative and efficient acquisition. A simple translation of user interfaces from usual computers is not recommended.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After evaluating various user interfaces with users in real conditions, we propose a solution that eases the selection of patients, the navigation into the various screens, and provides a very clear list of tasks to achieve for nurses.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The article exposes the difficulties to adapt an existing tool on mobile devices. Despite these difficulties, by organizing smartly the displayed information, we produced a tool with similar functionalities but better adapted to the user.
authors.affiliation: University Hospitals of Geneva, Division of Medical Information Sciences, Geneva, Switzerland. frederic.ehrler@hcuge.ch
authors.forename: Frederic
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ehrler
authors.forename: Magali
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Walesa
authors.forename: Evelyne
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sarrey
authors.forename: Rolf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wipfli
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lovis
mesh_terms: D040421:Cell Phone; D034201:Computers, Handheld; D003628:Database Management Systems; D004282:Documentation / Q000379:methods*; D057286:Electronic Health Records; D055991:Health Records, Personal; D016247:Information Storage and Retrieval / Q000379:methods; D009737:Nursing Records; D012984:Software; D013557:Switzerland; D014584:User-Computer Interface