A Medical Device Daily

GE Healthcare (Little Chalfont, UK) reported the launch of Qualibria, its new clinical knowledge platform designed to enable healthcare delivery organizations to improve performance against their quality targets. The company announced the launch Monday at the 2010 annual Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS; Chicago) conference in Atlanta.

According to GE, Qualibria gives clinicians more control over patient outcomes by bringing together real-time data from existing IT systems and comparing these data against shared baselines of evidence-based best practices. Qualibria is the result of a multi-year collaboration between GE, Intermountain Healthcare (Salt Lake City) and the Mayo Clinic (Rochester, Minnesota), the company said.

“As with many healthcare institutions, clinical excellence is a top priority at Intermountain,“ said Marc Probst, chief information officer of Intermountain. “We partnered with GE to build Qualibria because we needed an innovative platform that would continue Intermountain's history of clinical quality improvement while allowing us to share clinical best practices with other organizations who have a passion for improving their performance. We're very proud of the contributions we've made to Qualibria and we believe that it will allow our institution and countless others to achieve new levels of quality.“

GE also reported that Mayo Clinic has agreed to an expanded collaboration on Qualibria. For the last two years, Mayo Clinic has contributed informatics and clinical expertise to build Qualibria's medical terminology management tools, GE noted. The result is a platform that will allow clinical knowledge and best practices to be shared across organizations in a new, open architecture, the company said. Through this expanded collaboration, Mayo Clinic will provide expertise in developing this platform for the delivery of best practice clinical content, including knowledge, protocols, and care guidelines that will be made available to other Qualibria customers.

“At GE, we strive to offer solutions that can help our customers thrive in a performance based world,“ said Vishal Wanchoo, president/CEO of GE Healthcare IT. “Leveraging the deep clinical knowledge at Intermountain Healthcare and Mayo Clinic, we are confident that Qualibria will allow healthcare institutions to succeed in a performance-based world.“

In other news from HIMSS:

• Motion Computing (Austin), a provider of integrated mobile computing solutions, reported new peripherals and solutions for its tablet PCs. The new ReadyDock with Ethernet and Mobile Dock with built-in lock for the Motion C5 mobile clinical assistant (MCA) and F5 Rugged Tablet PC offer more storage, charging and management options while the Motion Medical Dictionary streamlines documentation processes for healthcare professionals, according to the company.

“Adding an integrated Ethernet connection to the ReadyDock provides significant value to the solution's usability in healthcare,“ said Dan Hurd, co-founder of Complete Tablet Solutions, a value-added reseller of Motion Tablet PCs, services and solutions. “Now IT can continuously update and manage the devices without interrupting clinical workflows, efficiently ensuring that the tablets are continuously charged and ready for clinician use.“

• Eclipsys (Atlanta) reported the addition of an integrated suite of mobility applications designed for the Apple iPhone and Apple iPod touch. The mobility applications are built on Helios by Eclipsys, the company's recently reported open platform. Featuring a differentiating user interface built specific for mobility, constituent-specific devices and native integration with Eclipsys' Sunrise Enterprise suite of healthcare information technology solutions, Eclipsys' mobility applications bring a next-generation approach to smart phone technology in healthcare.

The company said it is previewing its suite of mobility applications this week at HIMSS.

• Concerro (San Diego) unveiled its new iPhone application in support of its RES-Q scheduling solution. According to the company, the new iRES-Q iPhone application was designed to allow users of RES-Q Labor Resource Management to view their schedules, self-schedule, request shift swaps and review/request open shifts across all units for which they are qualified to work. The iRES-Q application continually updates and displays the most up-to-date information synchronized with each facility's RES-Q scheduling database, Concerro noted.

• Welch Allyn (Skaneateles Falls, New York) is showcasing two products at the meeting designed to address the costly issues of patient vital signs errors and the complexities surrounding electronic health record (EHR) implementation. Designed to help caregivers improve data accuracy and realize greater efficiencies surrounding EHR functionality, the company's Connex Data Management System and new EHR Preparation and Selection Services program will be on display at HIMSS, the company said.

Now available in version 2.0, the company said the Connex system works with a wide range of Welch Allyn devices to capture and document patient vitals easily and accurately. The system sends the most up-to-date patient vitals data to electronic health records, which dramatically reduces the time spent on documentation, reduces errors and minimizes delays. Connex also minimizes the chance of human error by automating patient identification using barcode-driven processes and eliminating the need for transcription of vitals signs data, Welch Allyn said. As a result, the typical hospital med/surg floor can save hours of documentation time daily, allowing for more time for caring for patients.

• Merge Healthcare (Milwaukee) introduced its Merge Patient Kiosk and deployed this new patient engagement tool in several imaging centers in the U.S. According to the company, the Merge solution combines the best of kiosk technologies already present in other industries and the specific requirements of healthcare consumers to create a new way for imaging practices to stay connected to their customers.

• The Enterprise Mobility Solutions division of Motorola (Schaumburg, Illinois) reported its newest advanced data capture solution for healthcare – the DS6878-HC cordless 2D imager. According to the company, the product extends the access of critical information to the patient's bedside, the nurse's station, operating room and beyond with the highest levels of reliability and performance. Specifically designed to withstand the rigors of everyday use in demanding healthcare environments, the DS6878-HC helps to prevent medical errors, improve patient safety and increase caregiver productivity by providing real-time and convenient access to information, Motorola said.

The device is also designed to reduce the spread of germs and protect patients and caregivers against dangerous and deadly illnesses, the company said.