PalmOne is touting the success of its Wi-Fi enabled Tungsten C in the healthcare market, as the device is now deployed in hospitals, medical centers and doctor's offices across the United States.

The company claims the Tungsten C addresses healthcare professionals' need for real-time access to information with a device that fits comfortably in their lab coat pocket. With the integrated Wi-Fi (802.11b) users can connect to existing Wi-Fi networks and access patient records and drug databases at the point of care.

In addition, the handheld's 64MB of memory and 400MHz processor, both tops in the Palm OS world, allows users to run several healthcare applications, such as MercuryMD's MData Enterprise System; Skyscape references; the ePocrates' clinical suite, including ePocrates Rx and Rx Pro; and PatientKeeper Enterprise, including clinical results, charge capture and dictation.

Bellow are some examples of healthcare facilities integrating the Tungsten C into their everyday activities.

By providing physicians with Tungsten C handhelds and PatientKeeper, Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School, said it is able to deliver patient information at the point of care and increase revenue by streamlining the billing process.

"Increasing access to essential patient information and reducing administrative work means better care and service to patients," said Monte Brown, M.D., vice chairman of the department of medicine at BWH. "The Tungsten C handheld with PatientKeeper's software has met the demanding needs of our physicians."

As for Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane, WA, nurses and physicians in the Advanced Care Cardiac Unit use Tungsten Cs and MercuryMD's MData Enterprise System to help with patient care, giving nurses and doctors access to patient information from anywhere in the unit through the hospital's existing Wi-Fi network.

While on rounds in the Advanced Care Cardiac Unit, each doctor at Sacred Heart Medical Center is flanked by a charge nurse with a Tungsten C handheld. Instead of flipping through paper-based charts and lab reports, or opening a new application on a hallway laptop to view patient records, the charge nurse carries a Tungsten C handheld and has access to lab results, vital signs, medication lists, and patient histories for all patients checked into the 30-bed unit.

At Indiana-based St. Mary's Health System, physicians use Tungsten C handhelds with software from MercuryMD, ePocrates and MICROMEDEX. As a result , the doctors can get access to patient information, such as lab results, medications, vital signs, EKG reports, and other data elements.

"It's amazing what our physicians can do at the bedside when the critical information they need is in their hands," said Scott Krodel, director of management information systems, St. Mary's Health System.

Finally, the department of emergency medicine at the Detroit Medical Center and Wayne State University uses Tungsten C handhelds to provide physicians with tools and access to reference information. Currently, efforts are underway to evaluate software tools to access patient data using the Tungsten C and the hospital Wi-Fi network. The department also provides Tungsten C handhelds to residents and attending physicians in order to better manage their residency program and accreditation requirements.

In addition, emergency physicians use a Tungsten C with medical applications such as ePocrates' clinical suite, 5 Minute Clinical Consult powered by Skyscape, Washington Manual powered by Skyscape, and MedCalc. These physicians can connect to medical references and the existing hospital Wi-Fi infrastructure to access data they need.

About the Tungsten C

First made available in April, the WiFi-enabled Tungsten C includes 64MB of RAM and a 400MHz CPU. It is aimed at campus-based professionals who are away from their desk most of the day but need access to all the information on their PC. The handheld also has a bright 320 x 320 transflective TFT display that supports 65,000 colors.

It features an internal rechargeable 1500mAh battery that provides a full work day of consistent WiFi connectivity, or a full work week of normal handheld use. The Tungsten C runs Palm OS 5.21, which is the first Palm operating system to feature Graffiti 2 based on CIC's Jot application.