PDAs and Handhelds Used for Medical Research Projects in Peru

In this article the use of handheld PDAs on a medical research project in Peru is detailed. The handhedl PDAs provided the following benefits:

• reduced delays
• reduced errors
• reduced workload
• reduced the time it took to process medical data by 15 days
• prevented lost data
• patients could be monitored in a more timely manner

Here are the details of the study and the use of the handheld PDAs as was detailed in this article in the article at ITExaminer.com Patients with drug resistant tuberculosis undergo a two year regime of powerful antibiotics, including injections six days a week during the first six months, with monthly testing. The test results dictate the course of treatment. The half-month delay in getting information from the outback to the city medical facility disrupted the treatment plan.

Here is a description, as described in this article in the Hindu News, of the patient record process before the use of handheld PDAs -

Under the old patient tracking system, a team of four healthcare workers would visit more than 100 health care centers and labs twice a week to record patient test results on paper sheets. A couple of times a week, they returned to their main office to transcribe those results onto two sets of forms per patient — one for the doctors and one for the health care administrators.

From start to finish, that process took an average of more than three weeks per patient. In some extreme cases, results were temporarily misplaced and could take up to three months to be recorded. There was also greater potential for error because information was copied by hand so many times.

Collecting of data in the field and synchronizing the data to a centralized database application for immediate storage and analysis reduces the need to manually retype all of the information and eliminates time delays that may cause treatment problems. Re-typing data from paper forms introduces more errors in the data and increases the workload for clinicians, so avoiding those issues by using handheld pdas for data collection and synchronization was found to have many benefits.

Additional news articles on the use of handheld PDAs in remote locations in healthcare can be found here.

The Power of Digital Cameras on PDAs, Handhelds and Smartphones

In this morning's newspaper there was an article called, "With New Smartphones, Doctors Reinvent the House call." The article relates how a Doctor can use a smartphone, PDA or other handheld computers to quickly view x-rays and give advice remotely. Other applications mentioned were for perusing pharmaceutical libraries and for showing educating patients with anatomical drawings. Although each of these applications are useful, I believe the real power comes from the ability to remotely collaborate with other team members that can all look at the sames information, in high definition and exchange real time data and thoughts. It is amazing what can be accomplished with these new mobile devices.

Digital Cameras in handhelds, PDAs and smartphones are becoming very powerful tools. Today, Sony Ericcsson announced they have included a 12 mega pixel camera in one of their new smartphones called the Idou. In the context of the healthcare field you can image how useful 12 mega pixel photos can be to healthcare professionals where clarity of x-rays, ultra-sounds and other images are critical.

There are many other uses for powerful cameras, crystal clear images and high speed data connections. In the context of the military or field engineers, they ability to see clear satellite images of objects on the ground is very important.

Several years ago I worked on a mobile project for the state of Washington in the USA. They were doing erosion surveys around rivers and creeks. They could do in-depth studies on river erosion from satellite images, but in designated areas they wanted to look at particular events on the ground. Rugged handheld computers with excellent screens and clear photos allowed them to quickly identify objects and geological events on the ground that required a closer look. The GPS coordinates led them to the exact location and then clear photos helped them survey specific areas.

The ability to move data, in real time, from office computers and database applications to mobile devices is a complex task. The ability to quickly develop custom mobile applications that provide you with both data collection capabilities and the synchronization of data from the office takes special technology developed by companies such as MobileDataforce and others.

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Ericsson Turns to Navigation for Mobile Handheld PDAs and Smartphones

In an article in today's Wall Street Journal called Ericsson Turns to Navigation it is reported that Ericsson is looking at navigation applications with voice commands as an revenue stream for their carrier partners. Everyone is getting into the act because the bigger screens on smartphones and mobile handheld PDAs like some lines from Ericsson, Blackberrys and iPhones make it easier to see maps and read directions while on the move.

Navigation applications and data for consumers will be quickly followed by applications designed for businesses. Navigation and voice directions can be integrated into delivery, work order and inspection applications on mobile handheld PDAs.

Google has already created consumer oriented applications for iPhones that let friends know where friends are on a map. It won't be long until businesses can also see the location of their employees, job sites and company vehicles via PDAs, handhelds and Smartphones. Google makes this application free. I believe applications like this will quickly become available as widgets or gadgets that any software developer can quickly add to their mobile application.

It is a fun and exciting time in the mobile handheld PDA technology world.

Sky Technologies have announced the launch of SkyMobile Smart Client for SAP® on Nokia Smart Phones and PDAs

Sky Technologies out of Australia seems to be spending some big money to make a push into the SAP mobile application market. In the past week I have read about their expansion to the USA with the opening of a Seattle, WA office, and the release of a new framework for mobile SAP integration. On top of all that, they state they will support the following operating systems, Windows Mobile, Blackberry platforms, iPhone and Android smart clients in 2009.


Sky Technologies has announced the released of its SkyMobile Smart Client for the Symbian OS (Series 60 3rd Edition FP1+). “This enables SAP® users to effectively deploy mobile solutions such as proof of delivery, field service and business work flow solutions onto a wide range of Symbian based handsets. This is primarily targeted at the Nokia smart phone market and is designed to be pre-cursor to the new Symbian open platform."

If Sky Technologies' information is accurate it represents tens of millions of dollars worth of investment in supporting multiple mobile device platforms and operating systems in a tough economic climate. It will be interesting to see if this shotgun approach to developing mobile software and throwing large amounts of money at growing a mobile software company in a rough market will pay off, or suffer the same results as Appforge and Dexterra.

Comparing Netbooks, Mini-Notebooks, PDAs and Handhelds in Field Services

I am a big fan of Netbooks and Mini-Notebooks. These are lightweight portable computers generally with 7-inch to 11-inch screen sizes optimized for internet connectivity. They often have exceptional battery life and can be used as a truly convergent device. Often they are optimized to run the complete Microsoft Office Suite. This article discusses them in more details.

The term Netbook refers to the fact that they are optimized to work on the internet. They are mobile internet devices that also have the power to run your standard office software applications. Doesn't most mobile handheld devices and PDAs that run Windows Mobile already provide these functions? Yes, but the 7"-11" screen is a vast improvement, especially for people needing to do real work, process and read large amounts of data and read diagrams, maps and drawings.

The Netbook, as a mobile internet device, should be set-up to access online documents, manuals and work order applications through simple internet logins. These devices can be generic enough to be shared by a complete workforce. In the morning the user can simply check out a Netbook, login and have access to all the information they need in the field.

Let's take the example of a service technician in the field. A small mobile phone is just not a good option for comprehensive work order management. It will quickly kill the eyes of the user. You need a bigger screen to work with any kind of data intensive work orders or parts catalogs. At the same time, you do not want the bulk and weight of a full size laptop. A small Netbook with a 7 inch screen can fit in the pocket or in a padded pouch easily. The screen size is big enough to show a lot of information and data fields without constant scrolling.

In situations where internet connections will be intermittent you may want to consider a work order management system that can function equally well connected or disconnected and use database synchronization in the background. Vendors like MobileDataforce specialize in these areas.