smartphones

Huntington Hospital in Pasadena, Calif., has implemented the Voalte One system, a unified communications solution developed for the iPhone that combines phone calls across the hospital PBX, text messaging via a visual user directory, and user-friendly alarm management.

Electronic health record vendor Epic has unveiled Haiku, an iPhone application that provides authorized users with secure access to schedules, patient lists, health summaries, test results and notes.

There is consistency in the technology requirements of different healthcare markets, according to RIM's senior public sector sales manager Daniel Morrison-Gardiner.  During a Q&A discussing Blackberry's strategy in the health sector, he said the requirement for long-term preventative care is uniform, and this is where mobile technology can play a role in patient monitoring and healthcare provision.

Salt Lake City-based 3M Health Information Systems has launched 3M Mobile Dictation Software, which enables physicians to use a single smartphone for voice communication, e-mail, Internet access and dictation.

Healthcare is among the industries leading the push to develop applications that far surpass standard smartphone apps in order to address specific needs, such as patient pre-admission screening for clinicians, or alerting nurses if a heart monitoring system detects trouble.

Healthcare systems are deploying mobility applications in an effort to improve the quality of patient care and to increase nurse efficiency. By boosting efficiency, mobility applications also are driving up job satisfaction, which some say is critical for retaining nurses during a nursing shortage.