Implementation issues for mobile-wireless infrastructure and mobile health care computing devices for a hospital ward setting

mWard is a project whose purpose is to enhance\ud existing clinical and administrative decision support and to\ud consider mobile computers, connected via wireless network,\ud for bringing clinical information to the point of care.\ud The mWard project allowed a limited number of users to\ud test and evaluate a selected range of mobile-wireless\ud infrastructure and mobile health care computing devices at\ud the neuroscience ward at Southern Health’s Monash\ud Medical Centre, Victoria, Australia. Before the project\ud commenced, the ward had two PC’s which were used as\ud terminals by all ward-based staff and numerous multidisciplinary\ud staff who visited the ward each day. The first\ud stage of the research, outlined in this paper, evaluates a\ud selected range of mobile-wireless infrastructure