Located in Evansville, Ind. , St. Mary's Medical Center is a values-based, 728-bed acute care facility providing inpatient and outpatient care in general medical, cardiac, surgical, diagnostic, rehabilitation, senior services, inpatient mental health, oncology, and emergency services, in addition to a separate yet attached hospital for women and children. Partnering with a medical staff of more than 650 physicians, St. Mary's mission is to serve all persons, with special attention to those who are poor and vulnerable. St. Mary's is a member of Ascension Health, the nation's largest Catholic-sponsored, not-for-profit health system.
In early 2003, the nurses at St. Mary's intensive care unit (ICU) – an unusually large unit with 24 beds – were still using paper charts. According to Greg Fleck, registered nurse at St. Mary's: “While other departments in the hospital rely on desktops connected to carts in the hallways to retrieve data, we needed something more mobile to replace our paper-based system.” The nurses wanted the same level of mobility that the paper charts afforded them with the benefits of the latest technology. The nurses envisioned a mobile device that could be carried into the ICU rooms just as easily as a paper chart, providing faster and more accurate data at the point of care – and enabling them to continue spending quality time with patients.
The paper trail at St. Mary's ICU ended with the deployment of 24 ultra-mobile Motion/Gateway tablet PCs – one for each ICU room. In conjunction with St. Mary's IT department, the ICU nurses chose the Motion/Gateway tablet PC as its mobile device because of the large, bright 12.1-inch display, which allows users to view a full-page document without scrolling. In addition, the nurses liked the lightweight, clipboard-sized shape, integrated wireless capabilities, ultra-low-power Intel processor and the pen-based input made possible by Microsoft's Windows XP Tablet PC Edition operating system.
Now, the full-featured Motion/Gateway tablet PCs are “on call” around the clock, stored in docking stations on custom-built carts outside each ICU room until needed. ICU nurses who previously had access only to paper charts can now grab a thin, light Motion/Gateway tablet PC out of its docking station and carry it right to the patient's bedside for instant access to lab work, vital signs and even X-rays via the hospital's wireless network and online documentation system called Care Manager Clinical Documentation by McKesson. The transition has been easy for the nurses because the tablet's lightweight slate design, which is about the size of a clipboard or paper chart, is easy to carry in one arm and enables the nurses to work as they normally do with a pen to access patient records and enter handwritten notes. One of the main benefits has been the reduction in patient charting time, according to Fleck: “Already, the nurses are pleased with the product's flexibility, and it has cut their charting time significantly.”
One of the most important benefits to the nurses is that the technology is unobtrusive, enabling them to maintain concentration on their patients while accessing data instantly.