Wednesday, June 30, 2004

PDAs Help Increase Event Reporting

Last year 30 pharmacists at UMass Memorial Medical Center were given PDA's with documentation software enabling them to record adverse drug interactions, medication errors and potential adverse events. Since this program has begun they have doubled their documentation of drug interventions.
LINK

Monday, June 28, 2004

Handango announces Software Champion Award Winners

Handango, the leading provider of mobile downloads, announced the winners for the annual Handango Champion Awards. Unbound Medicine, a leading provider of handheld, wireless, and Web solutions for healthcare, won the award for the Best Medical Application for the Pocket PC.

LINK

Been to the Pharmacy? This Doc Knows

eMPOWERx software, produced by Gold Standard Multimedia, based in Tampa, FL was given to 1,000 providers across Florida by the state's Medicaid program. This application enables them to receive information on the medications their patients have been prescribed and whether they've picked them up from a pharmacy. The initiative was designed to offer physicians real-time access to the drug information offered in the software, as well as medication and formulary information for state Medicaid patients.

Link

The Missing Sync

Mark/Space, Inc. announced that it would provide new synchronization software for Mac OS X and Palm OS 4, Palm OS 5 and Palm OS Cobalt devices. This new sync software would not only replace HotSync Manager and Palm Desktop, it would offer far more features than what Mac users have had available.

LINK

Review on medical use of PDA’s

Although a bit outdated, this article is a good introduction to how PDA's can be used to meet the needs of clinicians, medical professionals, and eventually extend to biomedical scientists, health care enterprises, patients and their families and the public at large.

LINK

Tuesday, June 22, 2004

palmOne Reports Profitable 4th Quarter

palmOne reported a profitable fourth quarter of the fiscal year 2004, which ended May 28, with revenue totaling $267.3 million, up 23% from the $217.1 million reported during the comparable quarter a year ago, and up 10% sequentially. The positive results reflect a strong Treo demand and a bright future outlook for the next fiscal year.

LINK

SanDisk Releasing Zire 71 Wi-FI SD Card

After well over a year of delays, SanDisk is close to releasing a SDIO Wi-Fi card for a Palm OS handheld, however the new card will only work with the palmOne Zire 71.

LINK

Mobile I.T. to Manage Specimens

Norwalk (Conn.) Hospital will implement a specimen management information system which uses bar code technology and hand-held computing devices to match patients to tests, and match tests to the required specimen container. After a specimen collection order is entered into a hospital information system, the software sorts the collection information by patient, priority and patient location to reduce the potential for misidentification.


LINK

On the Go With FileMaker Pro

About three months after releasing what it described as the most significant upgrade ever of FileMaker Pro, FileMaker Inc., a wholly owned Apple subsidiary, introduced FileMaker Mobile 7, a traveling companion for the flagship database manager. FileMaker Mobile 7 is built specifically for Palm OS and Pocket PC handheld devices and is designed to let users take their data on the road and then synchronize it with databases back in the office.

LINK

Monday, June 21, 2004

Federal government pushes for better hospital technology

Congress announced plans earlier this month to form a caucus to push for better hospital technology. The Bush adminstration and Congress are gearing up to put more pressure on hospitals to adopt technological safeguards in hopes to decrease deadly medical mistakes.


LINK

Friday, June 18, 2004

Physicians Praise Handheld Computers

A qualitative study was done on doctors' perspectives about their experiences with handheld computers in clinical practice. While many were found to be very attached to their PDA's, others feared that over-dependence on technology might inhibit their medical skills.

LINK

Thursday, June 17, 2004

A Go-Between for Mac Users

Information Appliance Associates has released an application which enables data in Entourage, a Microsoft personal information manager for Mac computers, to integrate with iSync, Apple's synchronization application.

LINK

Tablet PCs still too expensive

While the device as been successful in markets such as healthcare, real estate and insurance, other markets do not have the deep pockets to invest in such pricey technology. If the prices drop will other markets jump onboard or is it simply a resistance to change?

LINK

Wednesday, June 16, 2004

For Fast and Easy Typing....

MobilityWare has released a new desktop based application that enables you to use your already existing PC keyboard with your handheld for typing data directly into applications over a cable or wireless connection. LINK

Tuesday, June 15, 2004

Mobile Vendors Win Hearts, Want Minds

LINK

Now it's there's no question whether health care facilities will be going mobile, it's a question of when, how and how much. In the last few years, a handful of mobile health companies have emerged that offer a growing collection of enterprisewide applications or a system for linking to conventional hardware-based applications, or both.

Monday, June 14, 2004

BackUp Buddy 2.0 Released

LINK

Blue Nomad has released BackupBuddy 2.0, the first product available that uses a unique process for backing up devices and storing all changes made to the device since the last backup in a database. Thus enabling users to restore a device to any point in time. It's like having a giant "Undo" button for your handheld device

Are PDAs Simply Finished?

LINK

After Sony pulled out of the American PDA market many industry observers have increased their speculation about the demise of the PDA in general. Niche enterprise markets that will keep stand-alone PDAs selling include warehouses, hospitals, and the insurance industry.

Doctors use SMS messaging to keep families updated

LINK

Doctors at a medical intensive care unit will compose and send an SMS message to the patient's designated contact relative, to inform them on the patient's condition, how he or she was responding to treatment and what tests were scheduled later in the day, if any.

Friday, June 11, 2004

Intel Working to Double Battery Life

LINK

Zinc Matrix Power signed a deal with Intel to develop a battery technology that could allow laptop batteries to run for up to ten hours. Hopefully PDA batteries will be next in line for such improvements.

PDAs Good for Long-Term Care Provider

LINK

Non-Profit organization purchases Tungsten E handhelds in hopes of improving communication among their staff members and streamlining patient information management.

Wednesday, June 09, 2004

Palm vs. Pocket PC?

Is it just personal taste or does one outweigh the other? With most medical students being required to own a PDA what should determine which platform they choose?


Link

Wednesday, June 02, 2004

Mobile MerckMedicus powered by Unbound Medicine

A new free tool! Mobile MerckMedicus powered by Unbound Medicine

Sony pulls out of U.S. and European Market

Sony is scaling back its Clie handheld line and will bow out of the U.S. and European markets for PDAs, and in so doing puts new pressure on operating system maker PalmSource. Link