Jerry Fahrni

Category: Tablet PCs

  • What’s the lifespan of a tablet PC in use by pharmacists?

    In early September last year (2009) our hospital purchased some Dell XT2 tablets for me to roll out to the pharmacists; I got mine at the same time. My XT2 has performed pretty well for the most part with only an occasional glitch here or there. Unfortunately I can’t say the same for the tablets in use by the pharmacists on the nursing units.

    Over the past couple of weeks I’ve had several complaints from the pharmacists; blue screens, lost wireless configuration, loss of bezel button functions, inability to rotate the screen when in slate mode, etc. Today the ICU pharmacist dropped off his tablet in my office because none of the buttons along the outer bezel would work (CTRL, rotation and tools buttons). It turned out to be an issue with the drivers, but what caught my attention was the condition the poor tablet was in. It’s only been in use for just over 6 months and it looks pretty beat up. Apparently the XT2 isn’t designed to take the rigors of a pharmacists daily routine.

    With all the iPads we have running around our hospital now it got me wondering how they’re going to hold up once we start pounding on them day in and day out. I’m guessing not well. I suppose no device is perfect as is so eloquently described by James Kendrik at jkOnTheRun, but I don’t mind saying that I’m more than a little concerned. Oh well, I guess we’ll find out soon enough.

    Just in case you were wondering, the Motion J3400 used by the pediatric pharmacist has held up much better and is still in good shape. That’s something to keep in the back of my mind for the future.

  • New peripherals for Motion C5 and F5 tablets

    GottaBeMobile.com: “Motion Computing is introducing a two peripherals and some software that should help tablet users that work in the healthcare industry. The motion folks are exhibiting their wares at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society Conference in Atlanta.” – The peripherals being referred to are ReadyDock (PDF) for the C5 and F5 Tablet PCs and a new RAM Mount with integrated lock.

    The ReadyDock is a cabinet designed to charge up to 20 C5 or F5 tablets at once. In addition the ReadyDock offers standard network connection to the tablets while docked granting remote IT support like data backup. The ReadyDock is nice if you have the need to charge several devices at once, but each cabinet will set you back about $2300. I think I like the standard C5/F5 docking station better because you can attach an external keyboard and mouse to it which allows you to continue working while the tablet charges.
    The second peripheral, the RAM Mount with integrated combination lock, is actually supplied by a third party vendor. RAM Mounts makes mounting hardware for mobile devices like laptops and GPS units. The RAM Mount is simply a lockable port replicator that can be mounted on a wall or poll.
    I still prefer the J3400 tablet from Motion over the C5/F5.

    Posted via email from fahrni’s posterous

  • Notion Ink’s slate tablet shouldn’t be ignored

    The Notion Ink Adam tablet was a popular item for bloggers during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) earlier this year. The device runs the Android operating system and offers some very interesting technology for the end user like a touchpad on the back of the device and a 10.1” 1024×600 Pixel Qi display.

    The Pixel Qi screen offers the quick refresh of an LCD screen with the low power consumption and direct sunlight readability of e-ink. I’m excited about the Pixel Qi technology and have been waiting for their screens to appear in consumer devices for quite some time. In fact, I’m holding off my purchase of a Kindle DX until I see a Pixel Qi screen for myself. I’m just not a fan of reading PDF files on a backlit LCD display, and reading them on a Nook or Kindle isn’t a great experience either.

    The addition of the touchpad on the back of the Adam tablet is interesting. It gives the user the ability to move around the screen while holding the device in its natural slate configuration. It may take some getting used to, but overall the rear touchpad is a novel concept that I think offers value. Other nice features include a camera, the ability to multi-task and an SD card slot.

    The Adam could rival the iPad if given a fair comparison. The one major downside to the Notion tablet will be the same disadvantage I’m finding with my DROID; a lack of software available for healthcare. Then again, if your software is delivered over the web and accessed via the device browser it won’t make any difference.

    Some great photos of the Notion Ink’s Adam tablet can be found at Flickr.

  • Lenovo has been busy

    Tablet PC
    CNet    : “Lenovo updated its x series tablet with a new x201 model that packs Intel’s newest low-power Core i5 and i7 processors. In addition to the performance improvement that comes with the faster Core i series chips, the x201 also boasts better battery life over previous models, according to Mika Majapuro, senior worldwide product marketing manager at Lenovo.” – Lenovo currently makes one of the premiere tablet PCs on the market; the ThinkPad X200. I’m thrilled that they are continuing their great tradition of convertible tablets despite the popularity of slate devices so far this year; the iPad, the windows based HP Slate and the Notion Ink Adam, an android based tablet device. According to the article Lenovo continues to make convertible tablets secondary to feedback from customers. Hey, I think the convertible tablet is the way to go.

    Dual Screen laptop
    The same CNet article mentions that “Lenovo also announced 17-inch ThinkPad models, including the W701 and W701ds (dual screen) ThinkPad. These also come with new Intel Core i series processors.” – My opinions regarding dual screen laptops can be found here. Overall I like the concept and think they’re pretty cool now that I’ve had some time to get used to the idea. I will definitely give one a try if and when I can.

  • Motion J3400 Tablet PC Video

    Our pharmacy department uses tablet PCs as a tool to get pharmacists out of the physical pharmacy and up on the floors where they belong. We use a combination of the Dell XT2 tablet and the Motion J3400. I’ve mentioned the J3400 a couple of times before, here and here. It is a nice, rugged tablet.
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  • Final thoughts on Dell Latitude XT2 Tablet PC

    dell_latitude_xt2_tablet_pcI’ve been using a Dell Latitude XT2 Tablet PC for a couple of months now. It goes with me to all my meetings and has replaced my stack of legal pads I used to have in my office. Is it a perfect replacement? No, but it’s good enough that I don’t think I’ll go back to paper anytime soon.

    Overall I’ve been pretty happy with this tablet and have grown quite accustomed to using it for almost all my computing needs. While I don’t think it will take the place of a desktop PC anytime soon, it is more than capable of stepping in as a replacement for my laptop.
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  • Great new idea for “InkPad” at GottaBeMobile

    Matthew Dillon at GottaBeMobile has come up with a great concept for a new tablet device that he calls “ink pad”. The most entertaining thing about the concept is that I have designed several of these on paper over the years myself. My scribbles are recorded in various notebooks lying around the house. Like Matthew, I too love Tablet PCs but have always felt that there is still a yet to be developed device that would be better.
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  • Fujitsu playing healthcare angle with Windows 7 touch features

    eWeek: “Health care is a particular market that can benefit from the combination of touch- and pen- input combined with multitouch, and Moore offered the example of a physician meeting with a patient: viewing the patient’s records vertically, turning the tablet PC horizontally to view an X-ray, and quickly pinching or expanding his or her fingers to take a closer look at the image. “There’s a lot of intuitiveness here,” said Moore, and with built-in connectivity, “There’s no more, ‘Can you get me that chart?’ By the time the patient leaves the office, the prescription is at the pharmacist.’” – I agree that Windows 7 has potential to make a big impact on healthcare for the exact reasons mentioned above. Touch is good, people.

    As I said in a previous post: “Touchscreens are becoming more and more popular, especially with the increased use of smartphones, UMPCs, and MIDs. Touchscreen navigation on these smaller devices is a must if you hope to make them useful to the user. While a touchscreen isn’t a necessity on larger device yet, it is a welcome luxury. Like most great technological advances, it will take quite some time for touchscreens to filter down into pharmacy, but I think it’ll eventually get here. After all you don’t have to use the touchscreen for navigation, but it sure would be a nice option to have. Imagine entering an order on a CPOE system with nothing more than the tip of your finger. If properly designed, the physician wouldn’t have to type anything. Simply tap a pre-built link with the drug, dose, route and frequency desired and hit “send’. “

  • What tablet PC information did I miss? [Week of October 4th]

    I’m constantly trolling the internet for information on tablet PCs. What can I say, I’m addicted. And believe me, there’s was no shortage of stuff to read this week. Reports of the death of the tablet PC have been greatly exaggerated. I was going to add these thoughts to the “What’d I miss” post from yesterday, but it was just too much information. Anyway, here’s some tablet PC stuff I found interesting this week.
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  • To touch or not touch….a computer screen

    GottaBeMobile: “I am firmly of the belief that touch and multitouch make no real, practical sense on the desktop monitor. As we’ve stated on GBM before, the main problem for touch interfaces on the desktop is “gorilla arm”, that heavy, painful feeling you get in your arm after having it outstretched for an extended period, trying to touch a monitor 20-24 inches away from your body. Sure there are times when touch on the desktop monitor would be handy to just scratch out a quickie OneNote drawing, but for 99% of the time, for 99% of the people, touch on the desktop monitor space just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense even if it came for free. Now on the smaller form factors, Apple has really done the space a lot of service. Users and fanboys alike have been shown how touch and multitouch work on an iPhone. Apple’s advertising for the touch features of iPhone are direct, to the point, and show the audience what is going on without a lot of flash or distraction. Much like the HP ads for their newer IQ-series TouchSmart kitchen PC, the advertising is creative and effective.” – While I agree in theory to what Mr. Locke is saying, there are times when a touch screen is simply the best way to go. Desktop computers may not be the right application for such devices, but a desk surface may be the perfect area for a touch screen. We have several monitors scattered throughout our pharmacy that I would love to see as touch screens. For some reason I feel compelled to touch a computer monitor when I’m standing instead of seated in front of it. Touch screens also make excellent tools for surfing the internet while kicking back on the couch watching football. Now there’s a practical use for touch screen technology.