The Visible Value Blog

The workforce mobility revolution is here to stay. And its beating heart is Android^TM.

Implementing a clinical mobility solution is great way to improve clinician efficiency and support better patient care. With real-time access to patient data, the ability to collaborate with peers on a moment’s notice and the capability to effectively manage patient alarms, a mobile clinician is an empowered clinician. 

Mobile devices and handheld computers have made healthcare much more efficient in the past few years. It wasn’t that long ago that hospitals relied entirely on paper-based methods for recording, sharing and reporting data. Now, with the advent of EMRs, mobile devices are providing unprecedented access to patient data and providing secure channels for instant peer collaboration. But are they also presenting a new threat to patient health when it comes to healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). 

Are you exposed to security risks? 

Security has never been a bigger priority.

As we’ve seen all too vividly of late, a cyberattack can cause major damage to reputation, customer trust, and, your bottom line. Outdated IT systems leave the door open for hackers and cyber criminals. And the mobile space could be the next target.

Enterprises need to be proactive to understand the security risk and take the appropriate proactive and defensive measures that protect your data, your devices and gives you peace of mind.

LifeGuard™ for Android™ is Zebra’s software security solution that extends the lifecycle of Zebra Android enterprise mobile computers. It adds years of OS security support to bring your devices into line with the enterprise hardware lifecycle, helping your business significantly lower total cost of ownership.

Patient monitoring devices are literal lifesavers in the modern healthcare environment. From reporting changes in vital signs to signaling the end of an infusion or indicating a patient is trying to get out of bed, these monitoring devices provide critical visibility into the patient room when clinicians are busy elsewhere. 

When one of the largest public hospital systems in the country opened a state-of-the-art, 2.8 million square-foot addition, making sure the nursing staff could remain in constant communication was a challenge. 

Clinician access to accurate and up-to-date patient information is essential in today’s fast-paced healthcare environment. Proper planning is the key to success, so is the ability to communicate with peers on a moment’s notice, along with the ability to manage the ever-increasing array of alarms and alerts from patient monitoring devices. 

Patient identification techniques are becoming increasingly sophisticated, with 70% of hospitals stating that they use barcoded wristbands as one of their approaches to positive patient ID (PPID)[1]. Barcoding has improved the patient identification process in a number of ways, increasing staff efficiencies, patient safety and reducing the risk of misidentification.

TC51-HC Series

In a previous blog we discussed all of the aspects of clinical mobility that can improve staff productivity and increase patient safety.  Solutions such as point of care data capture, clinical collaboration, and workflow enablement are all part of clinical mobility but none of these opportunities can be met without the right device. That device is the TC51-HC.  This is a tough device that will last for years with a contemporary design that looks and feels like a consumer smartphone and enterprise class scanning and data capture features to boost productivity.  It supports the Android Marshmallow operating system, with support for the next two versions (“N” and “O”).  Enterprise features to keep data and devices secure.  Best-in-class power, battery life and manageability. 

Clinical mobility is the term used to describe the use of a variety of mobile devices and unified communication platform by physicians, nurses, midlevel practitioners, and other allied health professional as they deliver care to their patients.  Clinical mobility is synonymous and used interchangeably with the term point of care, and because it contributes to improved patient care responsiveness, clinical accuracy, and workflow efficiency when implemented effectively it is transformational to the entire patient care delivery process. Clinical Mobility enables better collaboration between clinical staff, improves the workflows of healthcare personnel, and increases patient safety by bringing identification to the point of care.