MedicMate Mobilizes Bedside Manner

Mobile software maker MedicMate on Thursday unveiled a Windows Mobile based application designed by and for U.K. medical professionals who don't want to lug around thick files and whose institutions can't afford broadband infrastructure to serve up patient or pharmaceutical information.

MedicMate is built to enable quick entry methods and customizable drop-down lists, as well hierarchical and split-screen views. Patient demographics, problem lists, and jobs can all be customized to suit the practitioner. The app also enables job searches, patient filters, alarms, JobSets, sticky notes and printable lists.

MedicMate is also password protected and uses 128-bit encryption and the built-in security features of most mobile handsets to protect data and confidentiality. The MedicMate module works with either infrared or Bluetooth technology for encrypted wireless transmission of information.

"Comprehensive electronic medical record solutions and U.S. style 'track and bill' systems are neither appropriate in all settings nor viable for busy clinicians. They often necessitate an extensive high capacity hospital intranet infrastructure," the company said, in a statement. "MedicMate, designed by doctors on the shop floor, instead focuses on bringing accessible and genuinely useful functionality directly to all grades of healthcare professionals free from infrastructure obstacles or inadequacies."

The application can also be used as an electronic logbook, enabling interns and trainees to record bedside experiences and treatment incidents; users can automatically log completion dates with supplemental notes. MedicMate also has an electronic switchboard function that's searchable for telephone extensions, faxes, e-mail addresses, as well as external numbers like patient support organizations.

The software is available now for any mobile handset with a touch screen and Windows Mobile 2003 or a subsequent version. MedicMate also needs at least 64 MB of memory to operate. A single user license is $119.