University of Virginia Health System

U.VA. SCHOOL OF NURSING STUDY FIRST TO USE NEW HAND-HELD COMPUTER SOFTWARE

The University of Virginia School of Nursing is starting a new study of hand-held computer software developed by Unbound Medicine, Inc., a provider of mobile and Internet-based management solutions. This semester, graduate nursing students and some faculty members are using CogniQ™, the company's hand-held personal computer device, during clinical rounds and patient care.

The study is directed by Arlene Keeling, faculty member at the School of Nursing. It will evaluate how effectively software used on hand-held technology -- generically known as personal digital assistants (PDAs), such as Palm Pilot® and Handspring® -- can access the latest medical research information and ease decision making, all at a patient's bedside or in a clinic.

We selected Unbound Medicine's software so our students and faculty can have high quality, up-to-date clinical information wherever and whenever they need it, said Keeling, director of the U.Va. Acute Care Nurse Practitioner Program and associate professor. Large volumes of print information may be outdated even at the time they are published. With immediate computer access to current medical information, we hope to demonstrate how PDAs aid clinical decision making and clarify patients' medication needs.

The software is an Internet-based, knowledge-management platform that delivers real-time content, applications and messaging to handheld devices. As part of its partnership with U.Va., Unbound Medicine, Inc. will provide an on-line library of research journals and a drug information database, as well as nursing rounds study guides Keeling developed.

We are delighted that U.Va. School of Nursing is working with us to deliver critical information to faculty and graduate students, said Dr. William Detmer, president and chief executive officer of Unbound Medicine, Inc. By providing the right answer at the right place and time, the School of Nursing is giving the next generation of advanced practice nurses powerful new tools to enhance patient care.

The software also enables nurses to input questions they can answer later using in-depth content on the Web, Keeling said.

The U.Va. School of Nursing is one of the first graduate nursing programs to require students to use hand-held devices. Last spring, students started to use hand-held applications instead of a pharmacology textbook to access information as they completed case studies for the Graduate Pharmacology class. For the study, the students will use the Unbound Medicine, Inc. software in clinical settings and evaluate the program's usefulness for one year.

October 2, 2001