A day in the life of Nurse Heavensent

Case Study:

The Royal District Nursing Service in Victoria Australia recently trialed the use of handheld computers (PDA). Following are some examples of how fictional Nurse Heavensent used the PDA in one day to send and receive emails, check databases, enter data and keep notes. Each of the activities described below was achieved during the trial.

  • Commencing her workday from home, Nurse Heavensent logs into the handheld computer and checks today's schedule of visits. Using a mobile phone GSM data connection she connects to the organisation's mainframe client information system. This allows her to check for emails and adjust visits, allocate a health aide to pick up one of her clients for today and check what equipment she needs to take to a particular patient.
  • Setting off to see her first client Nurse Heavensent activates the handheld computer to measure the amount of travel time.
  • At the client's home, she uses the PDA to automatically measure 'visit time'; and enter data describing the visit activities.
  • Returning to her car, she reads an email, which informs her that a colleague is ill and that she will need to visit another client. A 'Client Information Inquiry' message downloads the information about the new client. In response to another email, she also enters the discharge details into the PDA for a client who is about to enter hospital. Nurse Heavensent also sends an email to the liaison nurse working in the hospital, requesting follow up of this client.
  • At a new client's home, the nurse enters Registration and Financial details into the PDA and arranges when the next visit will occur, entering this information into the scheduling module.
  • Returning to the Centre at the end of the day, the nurse exchanges information with the mainframe client information system via a wireless LAN connection.

The fictional case study is a composite of actual events during the trials. The case study demonstrates how a combination of information and telecommunication technologies can improve the efficiency of the nurse's daily work processes and bring immediate benefits to patients.

This is an excerpt from the report: From Telehealth to E-Health: The Unstoppable Rise of E-Health

Prepared by John Mitchell of John Mitchell & Associates for the Federal Australian Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts (DOCITA)

( Reprinted with the generous permission of the Federal Australian Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts (DOCITA) who hold all copy rights to the article.)

From Telehealth to E-Health: The Unstoppable Rise of E-Health

 
 
 
© 2001 PDA cortex. All Rights Reserved
IT's Cutting Edge