• The Briefcase Model
• Static v. Dynamic Workflow and VantagePoint Documents

The Briefcase Model 

We created our exclusive Briefcase Model as a way to optimize the capabilities of the Tablet PC to bring it an incredible degree of mobility which no other system can bring. 

The problem:  How to maintain connection to the server to reliably  move information between the server and the tablet outside of the home wireless umbrella or in the event of any wireless service interruption be it radio frequency (rf) noise or otherwise degraded or interrupted wireless signals.  

The solution:  Make each tablet autonomous in its operation while maintaining constant synchronization with the main database when under the home server’s wireless umbrella.  

What we did: Inside each tablet is a complete database of all of the documents which the system creates as well as an expandable cache of memory to store outside attachments for individual patients.  The server acts as a master repository of all database documents and outside attachments.  While operating under the home wireless umbrella,  each tablet periodically pings the server to update the server with the changes in its database and it then synchronizes itself with the current server database.  

The intended consequence: Break the tablet free of all connections and make it self sufficient until it reconnects to the home network.  You can be in your office and lose the wireless signal by walking behind an x-ray machine,  on rounds at the hospital and not even tap into their wireless network,  in the waiting room at Kennedy International Airport while awaiting a flight to wherever;  you can be at any remote location in the world and the tablet will be self sufficient in regards to database documents.  This means you have your entire office database in your hands at all times no matter where you are. An expandable cache holds the attachments to individual patient files. 

The un-intended consequence: An incredible level of data back up and integrity.  We discovered this when one of our installation’s main server crashed in the middle of a busy day.  No one noticed because each tablet started working autonomously.  It took four hours for the system to degrade enough for anyone to notice.  Once the server was back on-line,  the entire system automatically synchronized within 5 minutes and there was no lost data from the entire day’s workflow. 

The briefcase version is an ideal tool for remote offices,  rounds at the hospital,  or home health care as you can load all the attachments for those patients you know you will see that day,  do your day’s work with the complete record of those patients,  and when you walk back under your home wireless umbrella or check in through a VPN from home that evening,  your tablet will automatically update the server and the server will automatically update your tablet with its most current information.   

The briefcase version will also lighten the number of workstations in your office as you will no longer need to have a full workstation in every exam room.  Your computer infrastructure can be reduced to a server,  perhaps a couple of desk units and then whatever number of tablets for the number of caregivers who need to input data.   

Static v. Dynamic Workflow and VantagePoint Documents

To understand the difference between Static and Dynamic Workflow,  you first need to understand how we generate documents inside VantagePoint. 

A simplified analogy is to think of it as scanning one of your blank forms or documents,  hooking it to a database so all of the boilerplate is auto-filled,  and then  allow you to fill out the rest of the form with digital ink be it type,  voice to text or the Tablet OS Hand to Text feature.  That isn’t quite what we do,  for we actually design the forms inside of the system,  but functionally,  that’s pretty much what it is.  Once we design your documents into our system,  we connect them to a sophisticated interoffice mail system which will automatically or manually route them to whoever needs to review it or sign it be it the patient,  a colleague,  or staff member.

A static workflow has a set order of documents which must be completed or suspended in the order presented before you can continue to the next document in a workflow or to another patient.  You can return to a suspended document as necessary but it usually involves 2-5 clicks of a mouse to navigate to it.  The documents are still your documents recreated in our system and you can still route it through the system,  but it is one document at a time in a given order for one patient at a time.

A dynamic workflow releases you from the boundaries of one document at a time in a given order for one patient at a time and instead allows you to have all of the documents you wish for as many patients as you wish open all of the time with the ability to navigate freely between documents and patients with no more than two clicks of the mouse.