The term “point of care” may be a little bit unclear, so let’s start off with defining what that means. Point of care testing suggests any medical treatment that can be done specifically where the patient is located. Often times at the bedside, but it could be in a patient’s home, at a doctor’s office, a testing lab or even in a mobile healthcare van. Advancing technology has changed the “pathways” healthcare individuals take to get medical results. Let’s take a look at these pathways and how they’ve changed with the introduction of mobile technology in healthcare.

Providing Top Notch Care in Rural and Poorer Areas

One of the biggest challenges that healthcare providers face in rural areas and poorer areas is the ability to not just provide patients with great care, but to even access those patients. These populations are either spread out with no easy access to a hospital or a doctor, or simply don’t have the means to take time off of work to visit a doctor for routine work. When routine visits and tests are skipped, more serious issues get missed, creating much bigger and more expensive issues down the road. Providing preventative care in these communities is a huge challenge.

Several organizations combat this issue through the use of mobile health clinics. While bringing the healthcare facility to the community helps alleviate a lot of the problems of providing preventative care, bringing technology into these communities can pose a completely separate challenge. A medical grade tablet is one way that healthcare providers are bridging the technology gap between a hospital setting vs. a mobile clinic. Tablets can be used for patient sign in and registration. Integrated barcode scanners can scan bloodwork creating a digital record of the patient and whatever tests are being done, and store that into EMR software to reduce the risk of human error.

Point of Care Testing Can Expedite Diagnosis

Take one of our previous customers and their recent experience using an advanced diagnostic imaging PC with their mobile x-ray machines. By integrating the PC with their X-Ray machines, technicians can wheel the unit into a patient’s room, take images, and have those images immediately displayed on the monitor. Doctors can then evaluate the images bedside and make a diagnosis, order further tests, or prescribe a treatment plan.

It doesn’t have to just be x-rays. Virtually any test that can be done bedside can be integrated with a medical computer to provide instant results. Imaging, heat and respiratory tests and even simple blood tests can be taken and analyzed bedside with a medical computer, speeding up diagnosis and improving patient care.

Medical Cart + Hot Swap Computer = Complete Patient Care Solution

Medical carts are one of the most important tools healthcare providers have in providing patient care. Nurses can wheel them from room to room, pull up patient charts, dispense medication, and log everything into the EMR software. But walk the halls of any hospital and you are likely to see nurses lining the hallways to do their charting because their carts need to be tethered to a power outlet to recharge. Or they simply do their charting at the nurses station. And all of that time spent charting is time spent away from patients.

Non powered carts that are integrated with a hot swap computer don’t need to be plugged in or recharged because the computer provides its own power. Batteries can be swapped out on the fly, providing 24/7 uptime. That is something that tier 1 computer manufacturers simply can’t provide. Couple that flexibility with integrated biometric scanners and RFID readers, and a medical grade computer also takes care of any two factor authentication needs without having to plug in 3rd party peripherals. The antimicrobial* properties protect the computer casing from deterioration and degradation, and EN-60601 ratings create a turnkey mobile solution.

Providing the best possible patient care is the end goal of any healthcare facility. Mobile technology is changing how providers are treating patients in a variety of settings. Cybernet manufactures a full line of medical grade computers and tablets engineered to meet the needs of the healthcare sector. Our close relationships with medical device manufacturers and healthcare networks allows us to be a leader in innovation. For more information you can contact us here, or just visit our website.