Development of a personal digital assistant-based wireless application in clinical practice

Abstract Purpose Our study aims to develop a personal digital assistant (PDA)-based wireless application in medical information processing by using Bluetooth and IEEE 802.11b wireless standards and SyncML codes. Methods In this study, an “integrated database access module” is used to provide a unified integrated access interface while consistency of wireless data transmission is achieved by using the standardized SyncML protocol. A prototype of the system has been developed, implemented, and tested for its mobility, usability, stability, and performance with questionnaire survey. Results Response time for browsing/searching was usually less than 3 s. The average time intervals needed for data transmissions were 68.6 ± 8.5 s for Bluetooth and 47.0 ± 4.8 s for 802.11b. The five-point Likert scale (from 1 = least to 5 = most) questionnaire survey of 30 medical professionals yielded a high degree of satisfaction with the system's mobility (4.18 ± 0.89), usability (4.69 ± 0.90), stability (3.81 ± 0.94), and performance (3.97 ± 0.88). Conclusion The results of our study suggested that PDA applications which exploit wireless communication are convenient and feasible in clinical practice.