News Week of October 21, 2007

Drexel Puts Course Capture To Work on Desktops

Using Camtasia Studio, instructors can create in class video presentations that show a recording of the computer screen while playing an accompanying voice narration. When a PC, tablet PC, or interactive electronic whiteboard is used, Camtasia automatically captures any interaction with the screen as well, along with Web sites visited, imported video from digital camcorders, or any other screen material displayed. Instructors can edit the content before posting it online as Flash or streaming media files. Students can then view the material at their convenience; it can also be used for distance-learning courses.

But on their desktops, Drexel professors are using Camtasia in a more unusual way: to create their own desktop-created tutorials or other presentations for students. A humanities professor at Drexel, for example, is using Camtasia to record the process as he marks up a student paper. By using a tablet PC and Camtasia to create a video that captures his redlining of a student's paper online, along with verbal comments, Professor Scott Warnock is able to comment much more extensively on a student's work than he would be able to via written comments. Warnock said he estimates that using Camtasia in this way might cut grading time by as much as a third, while giving instructors time to provide clearer, more detailed feedback. ( Here's an example of Warnock providing written and audio feedback while marking up a student's paper and recording the process in a Camtasia video.)  (Source: Linda L Briggs, Campus Technology)
Posted Thursday, October 25, 2007 by ChrisD
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Looking for a student laptop

3. HP Pavilion tx1000 Tablet PC – One of the cheapest tablet PCs in the market. Battery life is not too good but some stores bundle in two cells.   (Source: Darius Chang, CNet Asia)
Posted Thursday, October 25, 2007 by ChrisD
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Toughbook built to last

IF YOU'VE ever let a young child play with your laptop, you'll know how fragile they are.

I've seen kids flick keys off keyboards, snap screens off their hinges and try to insert more than a CD into a slot-loading drive.

And so it was with great excitement that I received Panasonic's latest Toughbook, the CF-19, to test.   (Source: Danny Gorog, Herald Sun)

MAU teachers' contract still in negotiation

Homework is also posted on the Web site, allowing parents to not only keep tabs on their child but also allowing them to get more involved in their child's education, Hansen said. Hansen is one of 10 teachers at the high school that uses a tablet PC in her class, a device that works as an electronic chalkboard.

Board members Leon Johnson and Kevin Bisaccio expressed appreciation for Hansen's presentation, as did Knapp.

"No one does it better (than Hansen)," Knapp said. "I was in awe of what we saw tonight."

Knapp also thanked the board for supporting technology in the schools and said students are getting, "a fine digital education in our schools."   (Source: John Waller, Benngiton Banner)

Mi-Co Offers Free Mobile Data Capture Needs Assessments to Home Health Care and Hospice Providers Highlighted Links

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC--(Marketwire - October 24, 2007) - Mi-Co, the mobile data capture software company, today announced that following its successful exhibition at the National Association for Home Care and Hospice (NAHC) conference in Denver, the company is offering a free "Needs Assessment for Mobile E-Forms for OASIS" to organizations that provide home health and hospice care.

To apply for the free assessment, healthcare providers may contact Mi-Co through the Mi-Co Web site or by calling (919) 485-4819 x1617. Eligible companies must currently be submitting claims to Medicare for reimbursement and have 20 or more mobile caregivers who are required to complete OASIS forms at offsite locations.

"Home healthcare is really about the patient," Mi-Co Chief Executive Officer, Greg Clary, said. "Mi-Co reduces the OASIS forms demands on nurses so they can translate their time-savings into patient care benefit at the point of care."

Mi-Co's heralded Mi-Forms Home Health & Hospice Mobile E-forms solution enables mobile caregivers to instantly capture handwritten data into electronic forms that can be easily uploaded into a database, existing EMR system or directly to the Federal HAVEN system, eliminating rekeying and the errors that come with it. Mi-Co's electronic OASIS forms capture data through handwriting recognition technology or digital ink. Mi-Co is the only company providing mobile handwritten electronic OASIS data capture.

Wilson County, NC, Home Care & Hospice conducted an ROI study for its tablet PC Mi-Forms implementation. The agency currently saves a nurse time- and quality-equivalent of approximately $300,000 per year. It saves approximately 1.5 hours per nurse, per day, while its data capture error rate dropped by 50% and late submissions were cut by 75%.  (Source: Press Release)

Tablet PCs are the new laptops

There are essentially two types of tablet PCs on the market today. The most common version, sometimes referred to as a convertible tablet, looks very much like a standard notebook, but with a screen that swivels and collapses to form a flat surface. Other tablets are exactly that, a tablet where one side is the screen and one side is the bottom of the unit, just like on a standard notebook.

The key to what makes a tablet is the fact that the screen is touch sensitive, the fact that it accepts input via a special pen called a stylus and also that the screen automatically adjusts to the way you hold the unit — vertically or horizontally. A tablet is essentially the same as a notebook, except that you may also use it just like a pad of paper, writing onto the screen as one of the methods of input.

Tablets are beginning to show up in all kinds of applications. Insurance adjusters, health care providers, lawyers, anyone who has a need to work efficiently in a very portable manner, may benefit from a laptop.  (Source: MJ Shoer, Portsmouth Herald News)

Philips unveils CliniScape Mobile Clinical Assistant for hospital wards at the World of Health IT annual exhibition

Handheld device enables nurses and doctors to make the best decisions at the point of care

VIENNA, AUSTRIA, - (HealthTech Wire) - At the World of Health IT annual congress, Royal Philips Electronics (NYSE: PHG; AEX: PHI) today unveiled CliniScape, its first mobile clinical assistant (MCA). The medical-grade, easy-to-clean handheld device brings a wide range of features together into a groundbreaking mobile point of care solution defined by Philips, Intel and other industry partners.  These include a 10.4” pen-touchscreen, RFID and barcode scanning, and a digital camera. CliniScape completes the missing link in hospital technology, allowing nurses and doctors to document a patient's condition instantly, reducing their workload and increasing the quality of bedside care.

“Healthcare providers work in fast-paced, high-stress conditions. They often need to make critical decisions on the move with nothing more than a clipboard and their own two feet to help them find relevant clinical data,” said Franco Martegani, CEO, Philips FIMI, a division of Philips Medical Systems. “With the mobile clinical assistant, doctors and nurses can take more informed decisions, more quickly and with less risk of avoidable errors, whilst avoiding the drawbacks of conventional handheld devices, such as short battery life, complex user interfaces, the risk of spreading infection or the need to carry a cumbersome barcode reader or digital camera.”

Designed as a semi-sealed 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 full advantage of the integrated features delivered by the MCA.

The device’s durable design makes it suitable to withstand knocks, drops and the general daily activities within the hospital. At less than 1.6kg, the lightweight device is designed to minimize fatigue when being held flat thanks to a hand grip on the back of the unit. The grab and go docking unit comes with a built-in battery charger, 3 USB ports and one Ethernet jack to allow the MCA to be used as a desktop device when docked.

Available in early Spring 2008, the CliniScape MCA 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 10.4inch XGA touch-screen with digitizer. The device integrates a number of technology features together on a single platform, including:    

• RFID reader for single swap user-authentication and real-time verification of patients, medication, blood containers and other clinical specimens   
• Optional built-in barcode reader to support bar-code based identification protocols   
• Bluetooth for cordless connection of devices such as a heartbeat or blood-pressure sensor, telephone headset or dictation microphone   
• 2 Mpixel camera for real-time capture of digital pictures of patient wounds   
• 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 an ideal mobile point of care solution for accessing Philips’ wide range of clinical applications, such as the IntelliVue Clinical Information Portfolio (ICIP) and iSite PACS, the leading enterprise-wide medical image and information management system.

At the World of Health IT annual congress, Philips will also be demonstrating how its recent acquisition of XIMIS Inc. will strengthen its RIS offering. In addition, the company will be exhibiting its industrial-grade speech recognition system, SpeechMagic, a technology that is integrated into the XIMIS RIS and can be used with the MCA.

Philips will also be unveiling a new concept study looking at how speech can be automatically translated into structured data. The study, in partnership with Map of Medicine and Health Language Ltd, will look at how such technology can capture a wealth of decision-support information that can then be made available to the care provider at the point of care. Klaus Stanglmayr, Strategic Product Marketing Manager, Philips Speech Recognition Systems, will hold a tutorial on the study at World of Healthcare IT on Wednesday 24th October, in Theater 425 at 12.45 – 13.30.  (Source: Press Release)

Fujitsu Completes Three-Year Rollout of 2,500 Stylistic and LifeBook Tablet PCs to Wisconsin's Largest Private Group Medical Practice

Fujitsu Tablet PCs Provide Point-of-Care Computing for Marshfield Clinic's Chartless Initiative

MISSISSAUGA, ON--(Marketwire - October 22, 2007) - Fujitsu Canada, Inc. today announced that 2,500 Fujitsu Tablet PCs are now deployed throughout Marshfield Clinic, providing the largest private group medical practice in Wisconsin with chartless, point-of-care computing. LifeBook(R) T4000 Series convertible Tablet PCs and Fujitsu Stylistic(R) ST5000 Series slate Tablet PCs serve as the hardware foundation of the electronic medical records system that has enabled Marshfield Clinic to improve the safety and timeliness of patient care, as well as increase efficiencies and decrease costs.

Rolled out over three years, Fujitsu Tablet PCs allow mobile caregivers in the Marshfield Clinic system to access electronic medical records including reports and images, perform dictation, and enter orders and prescriptions electronically. According to a clinic analysis, Marshfield Clinic saves $4.50 each time it avoids pulling a paper chart. With nearly two million patient visits each year, the savings are significant. In addition, Fujitsu Tablet PCs eliminate the cost of fixed workstations for every exam room. Marshfield expects to have a completely chartless medical environment by November 2007.

"We knew Marshfield Clinic was on the leading edge of technology when we devised the chartless initiative, and Fujitsu was an outstanding partner throughout the project," said Carl Christensen, chief information officer, Marshfield Clinic. "Durability, high reliability and outstanding support from Fujitsu were key to the resounding success of the chartless project."

Midway through the project, Marshfield Clinic performed a due diligence reevaluation by conducting a six-vendor shootout, evaluating products on 30 criteria. Fujitsu once again came out on top.

"If we didn't have the right hardware vendor, the project would have failed," said Mary Schalow, director of customer service and support for the commercial IT group, Marshfield Clinic. "The Tablet PC was going to be the physician's only device, so we wanted to make sure there was a large viewing area and adequate battery life. Reliability and service were huge factors since lives depend on the patient information. Fujitsu has stood up to that test."

The popular ultra-portable LifeBook T4000 Series convertible Tablet PC with an optical drive offers the comfort and ease of a traditional notebook combined with the versatility of a tablet. The thin and light slate form factor of the 3.5-pound Stylistic Tablet PC provides the freedom to be more productive. The system is weight-balanced so it can be carried comfortably in either portrait or landscape mode.

"Marshfield Clinic provided an exceptional opportunity to showcase how Fujitsu Tablet PCs can fundamentally transform medical facilities into a safer and more efficient environment," said Paul Moore, senior director of mobile product marketing, Fujitsu Computer Systems. "Healthcare organizations exploring the benefits of Tablet PCs need only look at the Marshfield Clinic. The reputation earned by Fujitsu for reliable, high-quality notebooks and tablets makes it a clear choice for any organization where notebooks and tablets play a mission-critical role."   (Source: Press Release)