Daou said it will develop a plan to support Salem Hospital in its initiatives through the next three to five years. This includes installing a clinical information system, which is designed to support point of care mobile computing by using a wireless IT device that replaces manual record-keeping.
In addition, Salem plans to use wireless technology in its six-story medical tower, slated for completion in 2008.
One of our priorities is to connect physicians and other clinicians in our community to Salem’s clinical information systems, and mobile computing will facilitate this, said Dennis Sato, the hospital’s CIO. We want to integrate our systems with those of the Salem community’s physician groups, so that we can eventually build a community health record that physicians can access anytime, anywhere.
Daou is also completing a six-month project for Salem with the design and implementation of an internet portal application. It is hoped this site will provide a single platform that integrates information from disparate systems into a single view in order to enable clinicians to access updates and summaries of patient data.
Daou says the contract represents its third mobile health project this year. The firm is currently providing a similar strategic plan for wireless to Southern Regional Health System, located outside of Atlanta, and a mobile health design and implementation for Adventist Health System, headquartered in Lake Mary, Florida.
