Indiana University School of Medicine and Ohio State University Select CDW-G to Deploy Personal Digital Assistant Programs for Medical Students
CDW Government, Inc. (CDW-G), a wholly owned subsidiary of CDW Corporation (NASDAQ:CDWC) and leading source of Information Technology (IT) solutions to governments and educators, today announced that Indiana University School of Medicine and Ohio State University have established personal digital assistant (PDA) programs with CDW-G for students, faculty and staff. The technology enables the schools to comply with industry standards, improve efficiency and enhance their students' learning environment.
"University medical schools face a variety of challenges - from engaging their students and providing superior patient care, to complying with regulatory body mandates," said Chris Rother, group vice president, CDW-G. "The technology solutions that CDW-G provided enable some of the nation's finest healthcare teaching institutions to train the next generation of physicians in improved patient care."
Indiana University School of Medicine
The Indiana University School of Medicine (Indianapolis, Ind.) is the second largest medical school in the country, with nine campuses throughout the state and an enrollment of 1,159 students.
As handheld technology became increasingly important in higher education and healthcare, Indiana University School of Medicine's Educational Technology unit initiated an awareness campaign on campus and began to evaluate various hardware and software solutions - ultimately selecting the Palm Tungsten C through CDW-G and establishing a requirement that all third- and fourth-year medical students purchase a PDA with a Palm Operating System. This requirement was largely driven by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education's (LCME) mandate for all medical school students to track clinical encounters on their rotations to ensure quality of patient care. LCME is the nationally recognized accrediting authority for medical education programs in the United States and Canada.
The school recently moved to the Palm TX for its wireless environment and flash memory capabilities. CDW-G developed a complete, cost-effective package for students - including a PDA, memory card and extended warranty. Indiana University School of Medicine students can order the package directly from CDW-G via a customized Web page that includes detailed product information, as well as contact information for the CDW-G account manager.
The program kicked off in November 2005, and Indiana University School of Medicine expects the majority of its medical school students will take advantage of the program. The Educational Technology unit conducts training programs for students on how to use software to extend the use of their PDAs. Educational Technology also maintains hot-synch stations in the Medical Library, as well as other buildings, to allow students to load data to a centralized server and course management system at any time.
"CDW-G has helped us establish a comprehensive PDA program that enables us to more effectively manage program administration and support. The company has worked with Indiana University School of Medicine to make the Palm program a success by streamlining the purchasing process for our students and enabling them to enrich their studies with technology," said Amy Hatfield, MLS, Information Systems Librarian, Indiana University School of Medicine.
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University Medical Center (OSUMC) is dedicated to a threefold mission of patient care, teaching, and research. Based in Columbus, the school is part of the most comprehensive health sciences campus in the U.S., including a college of medicine, five hospitals, two free-standing research institutes, and a network of more than 30 community-based primary and specialty care facilities throughout central Ohio.
Each year, more than 800 medical students attend what is consistently ranked among the top academic medical schools for training physicians. They gain experience in a variety of clinical settings at hospitals and healthcare facilities throughout the state. Because of the students' need for mobility, OSUMC began a handheld computer initiative five years ago to provide medical students and residents with the most up-to-date reference information wherever they were, enabling them to make the best possible decisions. The school implemented a PDA program to comply with regulations, minimize the amount of paper that students and physicians carried on their rounds, as well as to provide comprehensive reference materials and patient care software at the touch of a button. Ohio State now has more than 3,200 devices in circulation.
The university recently upgraded to the Palm TX, purchasing the handhelds in bulk for third-year medical students, residents and pharmacy students from long-standing technology provider CDW-G. The medical school went wireless last year; now students and doctors can access up-to-date patient data at any place and any time. The goal is to put the most up-to date information in the hands of users. Physicians, students and nurses look up readily available information to make informed and better decisions. To date, OSUMC has purchased approximately 1,200 PDA devices from CDW-G; the school purchases about 700 each year. OSUMC works closely with CDW-G to pre-load custom applications - including drug interaction software and the clinical patient data retrieval system - directly onto the PDAs, enabling users to start using devices in the OSUMC environment right out of the box without any configuration.
"Our PDA program has allowed us to provide our students and physicians with leading-edge technology and software tools to help them both on clinical rotations and in the classroom," said Wasif Malik, senior systems consultant, Ohio State University College of Medicine. "CDW-G provides much of the technology products in place throughout the Ohio State University system. They have been instrumental in our PDA program success."
About CDW-G
CDW Government, Inc. (CDW-G), a wholly owned subsidiary of CDW Corporation (NASDAQ:CDWC), a FORTUNE 500 company, is a trusted technology advisor and solutions provider to federal, state and local government agencies, as well as to educational institutions at all levels. CDW-G responds with a sense of urgency to customer technology needs, delivering best-in-class solutions from top-name brands such as Cisco, HP, IBM, Microsoft, Sony, Symantec and Toshiba. CDW-G focuses on building strong customer relationships with its knowledgeable account managers and technical specialists who provide extensive pre- and post-sales support.
For more information about CDW-G product offerings, procurement options, services and solutions, call 1.800.863.4239, or visit the CDW-G Web site at CDWG.com.
© 2006 Business Wire
