The University of Virginia (UVA) School of Nursing announces a partnership with Unbound Medicine, Inc., a leading provider of mobile and Web-based knowledge management solutions. Graduate nursing students and select faculty have started using CogniQ, Unbound Medicine's handheld delivery platform, during clinical rounds and patient care. A new study, "The Influence of Personal Digital Assistants on Access to Evidence Based Research & Clinical Decision-Making", directed by Arlene Keeling, PhD, RN, is evaluating the effectiveness of handheld technology (PDAs, such as Palm and Handspring) in accessing evidence-based research and enhancing clinical decision-making at the point of care.

"We have selected Unbound Medicine's CogniQ so that our students and faculty can have high quality, up-to-date clinical information wherever and whenever they need it," said Dr. Keeling, Director of the Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Program and Associate Professor at the University of Virginia School of Nursing. "By providing immediate access to current literature and evidence-based information, we can help demonstrate the importance of mobile resources in enhancing clinical decision making and possibly reducing medication errors."

CogniQ, an integrated handheld and Web-based knowledge management platform delivers real-time content, applications, and messaging to handheld devices. It also provides links to corresponding in-depth research on the Web. As part of the partnership, Unbound Medicine will provide two standard channels, MEDLINE Journals and a drug information database, as well as Nursing Rounds Study Guides, a channel developed by Keeling.

"We are delighted that the UVA School of Nursing is working with us to deliver critical information to faculty and graduate students," said William Detmer, MD, President and CEO of Unbound Medicine. "By providing the right answer at the right place and time, the School of Nursing is providing the next generation of advanced practice nurses with powerful new tools to enhance patient care."

"CogniQ is unique in that it not only delivers content, including our own, to the handheld, but it also enables nurses to capture questions on the handheld and answer them later using in-depth content on the Web," added Dr. Keeling. "Many clinical questions may now be addressed instead of forgotten when the student leaves the clinical areas."

Unbound Medicine, Inc. (www.unboundmedicine.com), a leader in the development of next-generation knowledge management systems, revolutionizes the creation, dissemination, and utilization of medical information. The company's handheld and Web-based solutions provide healthcare professionals with immediate, authoritative, and accurate answers to medical questions, wherever and whenever needed.

The University of Virginia School of Nursing is the first graduate nursing program to require students to use hand held devices. One of the first courses in the program for Family, Pediatric and Acute Care Nurse Practitioner students is Graduate Pharmacology. Beginning in Spring 2001, students used hand held applications instead of a pharmacology textbook to access information as they completed case studies. The students will use the hand held devices in the clinical arena and evaluate the usefulness of the programs offered by Unbound Medicine.

Dr. Shelley Huffstutler, Director of the Family Nurse Practitioner Program, Audrey Snyder, MSN, ACNP Faculty, Tami Wyatt, Doctoral student and Patti Krauskopf, Doctoral student at the University of Virginia are assisting Dr. Keeling with this project.