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PinnacleHealth
Fujitsu pen tablet PCs the right mobile choice for US healthcare provider
PinnacleHealth employs 4,200 full-time employees and provides community-based healthcare to more than one million people in Central Pennsylvania (USA) each year. The healthcare provider consists of Harrisburg Hospital, Polyclinic Hospital, Community General Osteopathic Hospital, and Seidle Hospital, as well as several family practices, urgent care centres, and other healthcare services. Its staff of nurses and professional healthcare professionals rely on Fujitsu's pen tablets to decrease operational costs, improve patient care, reduce paperwork, and enhance communication and convenience.
One of the highest-ranking healthcare providers in the state, PinnacleHealth has remained dedicated to delivering the best possible service to each of its patients.
To continue this tradition, PinnacleHealth enlisted the services of Datavision-Prologix, a value-added reseller of enterprise-wide
wireless and mobile systems. Datavision-Prologix provided the Pennsylvania-based healthcare provider with a complete and functional
mobile computing solution that would increase the efficiency of the staff and the overall quality of care for its patients.
The solution consisted of more than 50 Fujitsu pen tablets manufactured by Fujitsu PC Corporation (FPC). The Fujitsu pen tablets
connect to Symbol Networks' high data-rate wireless local area network via Symbol's Spectrum 24 wireless PC Cards. The wireless
network allows high-speed access to Siemens Medical Solutions Health Service Corporation's INVISION mainframe-based software,
as well as the Internet.
"We were looking for a functional solution that would improve the quality of care for our patients," said Richard Bagby, CIO for PinnacleHealth. "The pen tablets provided our care staff with an efficient and accurate way of collecting and recording clinical information."
By placing the pen tablets on mobile carts, PinnacleHealth's caregivers are able to input patients' clinical information, vital signs, and other medical documentation at their bedside. They can wirelessly connect to the hospital's INVISION system, enter medical information and document treatment.
The caregivers also have real-time access to their patients' medical records, which eliminates the need to search through paper files and enables them to quickly identify past medical conditions.
"The solution has significantly reduced the amount of paperwork the nurses and care staff have to manage," said Bagby. "Less paperwork means our caregivers spend less time on filing and more time with the patients. The computers also provide a uniform way of instantly collecting and retrieving a patient's vital information from anywhere in the facility."
Before PinnacleHealth's staff nurses chose this mobile computing solution for Harrisburg, Polyclinic and Community General Osteopathic hospitals, they looked into other viable alternatives. According to Cindy Brown, director of clinical information, notebook computers could have provided the computing power the care staff needed, but because of their size they would not fit securely on the mobile carts. She also considered personal digital assistants (PDAs). However, PDAs could not provide the computing power or the functionality of the pen tablet. Additionally, the nurses needed something that was user-friendly.
After a trial with FPC's pen tablet, the nurses and care staff had no trouble navigating the point-of-care applications by tapping on the drop-down menus. They could easily fill out a patient's chart or handwrite on the computer screen with its built-in transcription capabilities. The staff immediately saw an increase in efficiency, once the mobile computing solution was implemented. "It has greatly affected the day-to-day operations of our caregivers," said Brown. "They now have access to accurate information quicker and easier, allowing them to concentrate more on our patients and less on tedious administrative tasks." Pleased with the improvements, PinnacleHealth equipped 45 more carts with FPC's Stylistic 3400 pen tablet.
In addition to healthcare, Fujitsu's mobile computing solutions are used in a variety of different industries. Mobile workers in occupations such as field services, route sales and merchandising use Fujitsu's pen tablets for various market-specific applications, giving them powerful, on-the-spot access to enterprise resources. Using Fujitsu's mobile computing solutions, organisations are able to streamline business processes, increase productivity, reduce costs and improve competitiveness.
