According to the Medical Records Institute's (MRI) 7th Annual Survey of Electronic Health Record Trends and Usage Study, between 2003 and 2005, tablet PCs were the fastest growing mobile/wireless technology in the health industry. In its 2005 survey of 280 healthcare providers, MRI found that tablet PCs were adopted substantially faster than all other mobile technologies combined and, along with cell phones, were the only mobile devices to have grown in market share each year. Tablet PC use grew at a two-year rate of 80.4 percent, compared to 53.9 percent for cell phones, 2.8 percent for laptops and 0.8 percent for PDAs.

"The very promise of point-of-care documentation and decision support depends upon clinician adoption. Generally, physicians and nurses will only use technologies that advance their productivity and care processes. For this reason, slate tablet PCs have been a key driver of successful clinical systems usage because they enable various workflows and are designed to parallel the pen-and-chart model so familiar to clinicians," said Joel French, vice president, healthcare & life sciences for Motion Computing.

Below, Motion clients and health industry experts explain why tablet PCs remain the fastest growing mobile/wireless technology, have been adopted by thousands of health organizations and are supported by nearly every major clinical information system software vendor:

Acceleration of Clinical System Deployments

"As we help our clients achieve full value from their clinical systems implementations, we are seeing the great importance of tablet PCs in gaining clinician acceptance and clinical benefits from these systems." -- Rick Skinner, vice president of First Consulting Group.

"Over the past three years, we have deployed several hundred Motion tablet PCs throughout our institution in various nursing environments. The tablet allows the clinician to stay at the bedside, increasing efficiency and quality of care." -- Tina Suess, RN, administrator of the Bridge Medical/Cerner medication administration system used by Lancaster General Hospital and president of the Bridge User's Group.

Maturation of Wireless Infrastructure

"Patients, caregivers and supplies are constantly moving in our care settings, so we are increasingly realizing that achieving efficient workflow is inextricably linked to mobility. Together with a properly designed wireless network, training and workflow-enabled software, we believe the Motion slate tablet PCs we have implemented will establish sustainable clinical process improvements and enhance our business agility." -- Gary Davis, VP and CIO of Baptist Health System.

Slate Tablet PCs as Standard Device

"As a large academic medical center, we have used just about every type of computer or mobile device. One of the reasons we deployed Motion slate tablet PCs across a variety of departments, applications and clinical disciplines is because they can easily be adapted to a variety of settings. This flexible approach allows us to solve discrete business problems unique to particular clinical settings, tailor solutions to the needs of individual clinicians, and advance our innovation and industry leadership." -- Gerard Burns, MD, medical director, information technology for Hackensack University Medical Center.

"Even though vendors market them as being mobile, carts on wheels (COWs), laptops and convertible tablets are not mobile, they are moveable or transportable. There is a vital difference in terms of clinician productivity -- truly mobile devices, by definition, can move at the pace you do and can be used while walking, sitting or standing. Like slate tablet PCs, PDAs and cell phones are mobile, but they lack the performance capability and screen size to be useful for most clinical usage scenarios." -- Angela N. Haas, MD, chief medical informatics officer and vice president for Susquehanna Health System.

Clinical Information Software Vendor Adoption

"Historically, insufficient attention to clinical workflow from software designers and lack of device mobility and performance have been major impediments to widespread adoption of point of care documentation systems. But, I really think we've really turned a corner - the combination of slate tablet PCs and contemporary clinical systems provide robust support for both existing and reengineered workflows and practice patterns." -- Michael Blum, MD, medical director, information technology, UCSF Medical Center.

"In much the same way quality speakers are required to deliver the hi-fidelity experience provided by top-shelf audio systems, the Motion LS800 and LE1600 tablets allow us to get the full value from our software application investment, dramatically improving the user experience." -- Brian McCardel, MD, partner for East Lansing Orthopedics and chief of orthopedics for Sparrow Health System.

"Motion slate tablet PCs have been an excellent choice for our clinicians because they can run the entire functionality of our Siemens Soarian clinical information systems, can be adapted to work well for nearly any clinical use or discipline, while allowing a multitude of data input options, including pen, keyboard, voice and external devices, such as a bar code reader." -- Dr. Haas, Susquehanna Health System.

http://www.motioncomputing.com/about/news/press_release_021306.asp