October 23, 2007 – Yesterday at the World of Health IT annual congress in Vienna, Austria, Royal Philips Electronics unveiled CliniScape, its first mobile clinical assistant (MCA).
The device will be available in early Spring 2008.The medical-grade, easy-to-clean hand-held device brings a range of features together into a mobile point-of-care solution. It includes a 10.4-inch pen-touchscreen, RFID and barcode scanning, and a digital camera. CliniScape allows nurses and doctors to document a patient’s condition instantly, which the company says will help reduce workload and increase the quality of bedside care.
Designed as a semisealed device without any I/O ports except for one USB slot behind a protective cover, the MCA can easily be wiped clean with disinfectant to reduce the spread of infection. The MCA category was defined by Intel’s Digital Health Group with input from nurses and physicians worldwide, and has the support of a number of leading healthcare EMR vendors who have optimized their point-of-care software to take advantage of the integrated features delivered by the MCA.
The manufacturer says the device’s durable design makes it suitable to withstand knocks, drops and the general daily activities within the hospital. At less than 1.6 kg, the lightweight device is designed to minimize fatigue when being held flat thanks to a handgrip on the back of the unit. The grab and go docking unit comes with a built-in battery charger, three USB ports and one Ethernet jack to allow the MCA to be used as a desktop device when docked.
It is based on a 1.2 GHz Intel Core Solo Processor with a 60 GB hard-disk drive, 1 GB SDRAM, WLAN 802.11 b/g/n, Windows XP Tablet PC edition (Vista planned) and an easy to read 10.4-inch XGA touch-screen with digitizer.
The device integrates a number of technology features together on a single platform. It has an RFID reader for user-authentication and real-time verification of patients, medication, blood containers and other clinical specimens. It has an optional built-in barcode reader and Bluetooth for wireless connection to devices such as a heartbeat or blood pressure sensor, telephone headset, or dictation microphone. It has a 2 megapixel camera for digital pictures of patient wounds. It also has medical-grade compliance to allow its use in clinical areas where traditional laptops or tablet PCs are not allowed.
The CliniScape MCA also acts as a mobile solution for accessing Philips’ other clinical applications, such as the IntelliVue Clinical Information Portfolio (ICIP) and iSite PACS.
For more information: www.medical.philips.com