Mobile Clinical Assistant 

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Rugged, sealed, disinfectable chassis

What is Rugged?

The MCA is designed to be used in a hospital while walking and standing. It can handle the bumps and drops that come with this type of environment. The MCA is IP54 rated which means it is suitable for use in dusty environments and is resistant to water, so it can be safely and easily cleaned and disinfected with standard cleansers. The MCA has also been extensively drop tested in accordance with MIL-STD-810F specifications.

Rugged features include:

• A magnesium alloy internal frame that delivers structural durability
• Rubber Elastomer overmold adds bump protection
• A chemical-resistant resin that is easy to clean
• A sealed design to help protect from moisture and dust
• Shock mounted Hard Disk Drive (HDD) or optional Solid State Drive (SSD) to withstand drops from common distances
• Motion DataGuard™: An accelerometer which parks the hard drive if it senses a drop or shocking motion
• A Motion exclusive thermal management system that allows for a shutdown without data loss

There is no need to pay more for Fully-Rugged.

The ergonomic, lightweight design of the Mobile Clinical Assistant protects against environmental conditions and accidental situations without the high price associated with other fully rugged PCs.

A purpose-built clinical tablet strikes the perfect balance of price, durability, mobility and feature integration.

• Handhelds are too small, difficult to use and have minimal application support.
• Consumer Notebooks/Convertibles lack durability, have no integration of necessary devices (RFID/Camera/Barcode) and are difficult to use for mobile professionals in the field.
• Ruggedized Notebooks/Convertibles are very heavy, very expensive, have no integration of necessary devices and are also difficult to use in the field.

Cleaning

The following is a list of chemical disinfectants that have been successfully tested for use with the MCA. Cleaning the tablet  using a wipe or cloth dampened by any of the disinfectants below will not cause damage to the MCA or Docking Station.

Integrated RFID reader

The integrated RFID reader in the enables quick and easy identification of caregivers, patients, medications and supplies. Simply press the RFID trigger, which is conveniently located on the handle, to detect and read the data off of the RFID tag in the targeted object, such as an ID card, wristband or drug label.

Technology Definition

Radio-frequency identification (RFID) is an automatic identification method that relies on remote storage of data and remote retrieval of data from devices such as patient wristbands or stickers embedded with RFID tags or transponders.

Integration of the Technology

Every Mobile Clinical Asssistant comes with a standard high-frequency (13.56 MHz) RFID reader. The RFID reader’s key performance attributes include maximum read range and reliability, as well as reduced power consumption.

The RFID reader is ISO/IC 15693 enabled (supported out-of-box) and can also support ISO/IEC 14443A/B and ISO/IEC 18000-3 (supported after additional software work).

The integrated RFID reader is high-frequency (13.56MHz). In comparison, low-frequency readers operate in the 125-134.2kHz and 140-148.5 kHz bands.

Primary Clinical Usage Models:

• User authentication (in place of Finger Print Reader or password)
• Patient identification (scanning patients’ wristbands)
• Medication (especially high-cost and/or controlled substances)
• Expensive medical supplies such as replacement hip joints
• RFID Tag Formats and Devices

The photograph below illustrates a high-frequency RFID tag, as well as various devices that may be equipped with RFID tags in healthcare.

RFID Tag (not embedded)	Patient Wristband	Caregiver ID Card

Integrated 2.0 megapixel camera

The integrated 2.0-megapixel camera in the Mobile Clinical Assistant can be utilized for a variety of purposes, some of which include:

• General visual documentation
• Photographic wound documentation
• Range of motion studies

Technology Definition

1.0-MP equates to one-million pixels, which is a unit of measurement in an image (the number of megapixels). A higher number of megapixels will determine the quality of the image. Think of it as the number of color dots that comprise a picture. A low density of dots will result in a poor image. A higher density of dots will result in a higher quality image.

Integration of the Technology

The MCA includes an integrated 2.0-megapixel camera that can be used for multiple purposes, such as wound documentation, range-of-motion studies and other general camera uses.

Camera Specifications

Optional Integrated Barcode Scanner

The optional integrated barcode scanner provides users with a fast and convenient method to:

• Identify patients via wristbands
• Track medication administration
• Capture consumption of medical supplies

Thus, barcode scanning is an integral part of automated “5 Patient Rights” and billing capture systems.

Technology Definition

Barcode scanning is a convenient, low-cost data capture technology used in healthcare environments for identification of people and objects. There are 3 types of barcode scanning technologies: Area imaging, laser and linear.

Area imaging technology is ideal for close range barcode scanning applications in healthcare environments or anywhere omni-directional and/or 2D imaging is needed. 2D barcodes are being used more often as they carry so much more data in a small space than traditional linear barcode. Area imagers can read almost anything without regard to orientation. Linear imagers work exceptionally well at medium to close range, and excel at reading poor quality or masked barcodes. They are also superior at reading higher density barcodes, which occur when the code is reduced in size, typically to conform to some type of packaging such as with medication and medical supplies. (Source: Intermec)

Integation of the Technology

The optional 1D/2D barcode scanner that supports area imaging and linear scanning technologies, and can scan.

Key Features

• Provides omni-directional scanning
• Typically faster than traditional 2D imagers
• Unmatched movement tolerance

Barcode Illustrations

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