The Department of Health and Human Services in Tasmania (DHHS) has bought 5 Panasonic Toughbook H1 Medical Clinical Assistants (MCA) to be used by clinical pharmacists in highly infectious wards.
DHHS is the largest of all the Tasmanian Government agencies and is responsible for delivering integrated services that maintain and improve the health and wellbeing of individual Tasmanians and the Tasmanian community as a whole.
DHHS was looking for a device that could be used by clinical pharmacists in both infectious and non-infectious wards in four hospitals - the Royal Hobart, Launceston General, North West Regional and Mersey Community hospitals.
Clinical pharmacists provide medication therapy evaluations and recommendations to patients and other healthcare professionals. They offer advice regarding the safe, appropriate and cost-effective use of medications. It was important for the pharmacists that the device fulfilled a number of important requirements: ergonomic, comfortable as well as being durable with a long battery life; the ability to work with the department’s communications systems and software; and it had to be easily disinfected.
After researching various hardware solutions including traditional notebooks and mobile clinical assistants (MCA), Panasonic’s H1 MCA stood out from the crowd. Its rugged and ergonomic design, as well as its extended battery life and ability to be sanitised with hospital-grade disinfectants, meant it was a perfect solution. The clinical pharmacists are able to bring the device with them and access critical information at the bedside. This has eliminated paper-based processes and decreased the risk of errors.
The H1’s fully sealed design is completely resistant to liquids, meaning the device can be disinfected. This proves vital when pharmacists are moving between infectious and non-infectious wards.
Amber Roberts, State-wide Medication Coordinator, said the Panasonic Toughbook was an excellent choice for the department.
“We are able to bring a device into the infectious wards and this proved particularly helpful during the H1N1 (Swine) Flu pandemic.
“Due to its fully sealed build-quality and resistance to hospital-grade disinfectants, the pharmacists were able to bring the device to the quarantine area without the worry of spreading the infection to other parts of the hospital.
“The feedback on the rollout of the Toughbook H1 has been extremely positive,” Roberts said.
“We have a wide range of users aged between 20-60 and all have found the device very easy to operate.”
