Handheld Computer Interest Group

May 24, 1999

The Problem

Medical students and residents must manage a tremendous amount of information on behalf of their patients and their own education. To date, this process has been largely devoid of automation - but this may be about to change...

Assumptions

• Clinical settings require small, pen-based computers.
• Emphasis should be on automation and communication:
  • Clinical Tools (Scut Manager)
  • On-the-Fly Information Transfer (Infrared)
  • Backup and Data Extraction (Tracking the Clinical Experience)
  • Links to Other Systems (Lab)
• Applications should do a few things very well instead of many things marginally well.
• KISS Principal - Keep it Simple

What Others Have Done

• Raphael by PDAMed
  • http://www.pdamed.com/
• E and M Coder
  • http://statcode.hypermart.net/

Choice of the Palm IIIx

• Palm Series has 70-80% of the Hand Held market
• Best trade off of size, cost, speed, and function
• Fast, accurate shorthand for input
• Built-in infrared communication
• Single desktop computer can support many Palm devices
• Robust conduit architecture

The Ultimate Goal

To have all third year students using hand held computers by July 1, 2000. Success is likely to create spinoff benefits for residents and faculty.

How You Can Stay Involved

• Mailing List
  • handheld@college.med.ufl.edu
• Monthly Meetings
• Focus Groups
• Test and Use Software