Developing a Home-based Palliative Care Information System by Utilizing Wired/Wireless Network and Mobile Computing System in Japan
Nobutaka Kikuchi, Noriaki Aoki, Sachiko Ohta, May Ito, Takeshi Okabe, Kim Dunn · 2007
Interpersonal communications within specialized community palliative care consulting teams are fundamental to patient care. However, the process of communication has not been well supported technologically. We developed a network-based information system to improve communication within team. The Network Tool is a database system developed using FileMaker Pro (File Maker, Inc., CA, USA), which utilizes the wired/wireless network and the mobile computing system. It enables interactive communications between the office headquarters and professionals over the intranet. This database comprises information relevant to the patients including details on their family, home, medication, and actual clinical status assessed by each professional. It is designed to improve clinical information, facilitate an interdisciplinary team approach, and allow collecting structured clinical data in general practice on a daily basis. The system has been successfully implemented and used, especially to improve communication within the interdisciplinary team. This system supports practices that are consistent with improvements in the quality of care. An infrastructure that shares the database of patient's records was developed for homebased palliative care.