Mobile information access and diffusion in ambulatory care service settings

Clinical information systems for Ambulatory Care are predominantly paper-based. This paper represents a preliminary overview (work-in-progress) of the electronic Point of Care (ePOC) Personal Digital Assistant Project- a mobile e-Health research and development project and the intrinsic considerations which arise when designing alternative electronic patient data management systems tailored to Ambulatory Care. Its purpose is to address issues which allow technological enablement of electronic patient data management in the delivery of home-based medical care. We present the methodological considerations for document management within this e-Health setting and proposed rollout of an electronic Point-Of-Care (ePOC) system. While the replacement of more traditional paper-based patient data management using Personal Digital Assistants as a collection platform is technically straightforward, it is imperative the organizational realignment of an electronic document management system requires careful study and deployment in order to maximize success.