Development of mobile platform integrated with existing electronic medical records

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This is a review of Kim Y., Kim S.S., Kang S., Kim K., & Kim J. 2014 article, “Development of Mobile Platform Integrated with Existing Electronic Medical Records”.[1]

Abstract

This article covers the importance of mobile device integration with the use of current Electronic Medical Records (EMR) system within a healthcare facility. It also lists mobile applications that were started by Severance Hospital they include applications for the PDA phone and a mobile solution for healthcare professionals for the iOS-based iPhone. The authors of this paper highlight and describe the method in which they implemented a mobile EMR design platform with a current EMR used within their facility. They discuss user interface and design layouts of Serverance’s new mobile architecture. In 2012, Serverance’s mobile architecture was designed to provide service and operation independent from a specific device or OSs. Allowing the application to run on various devices.

Methods

The authors describe prior to implementation; they structured the mEMR to reuse services of retrieval and storage in mobile app environments that had no problems working with EMRs. The new mobile architecture-based mobile solution was created in four steps:

  • Step 1: Construction of server and its architecture
  • Step 2: Screen layout and storyboard making
  • Step 3: Screen user interface design and development
  • Step 4: Pilot test and step-by-step deployment

The mobile architecture consisted of two parts the server-side area and the client-side area. The server-side area performs task for EMR management and information exchange. The mobile architecture contains a mobile server and mobile devices. The mobile server receives medical records from the current EMR system and converts the information to fit within the mobile devices.

Results and Discussion

The authors state that this form of mobile architecture has been used at the Serverance Hospital and provides stability and uninterrupted service. It is also mentioned that since access to patient health records methods are continuously changing. Various methods, such as virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) or mobile application should be integrated into infrastructures of the EMR to increase user interface and interoperability.

Comments

This article serves as a good resource of how to formulate and designed a mobile EMR companion to an existing EMR already in place. The authors give a big picture of what is expected from a mobile EMR application and explains the programming interfaces behind it. If a facility chooses to enroll in a mobile EMR program they may use this article to understand the steps required for personalizing their program to fit their EMR needs. The only comment I have to make about this article is that there was no mention of feedback from staff at the Serverance Hospital as to how the user Interface is satisfying staff and personnel who have access to the mobile EMR. Being able to view the client’s side/views are an integral part in providing other vendors who are interested to see what works and what can be improved on.

References

  1. Y. Kim, Y., Kim, S. S., Kang, S., Kim, K., & Kim, J. (2014). Development of mobile platform integrated with existing electronic medical records. Healthc Inform Res., 20(3), 231-235. doi: 10.4258/hir.2014.20.3.231 Retrieved from: http://ca3cx5qj7w.search.serialssolutions.com/OpenURL_local?sid=Entrez:PubMed&id=pmid:25152837