Case Study

Developer/Location:

Michelle Roscoe

Manager of Academic Computing

Parker Chiropractic College

Dallas, TX

Overview:

Rigorous training standards require interns to be evaluated by staff doctors in the clinical environment while working with patients.  Pendragon Forms are used by staff doctors to collect intern Quality Assessments (QAs) onsite.

Each evaluation begins with the staff doctor verifying the patient’s name and their associated intern from a lookup function in the form.  The lookup function is done over an encrypted wireless connection between the PDA and a SQL database, via an asp page.  The SQL database is refreshed nightly from original patient/intern data stored on an AS/400.

      The Staff Doctor continues the evaluation by entering assessment data of the intern’s performance into the form. When the evaluation is complete, the staff doctor synchronizes the data to the Pendragon server using the S-Link function over the wireless network.

      Staff Doctors use an authenticated site to access their assigned intern’s QA reports. Additionally, weekly QA summary reports are e-mailed to the interns.  The volume of data collected is enormous.  In the last 6 months of use, we have collected close to 20,000 records using Pendragon Forms. 

Before Pendragon Forms:

Before using Pendragon Forms, Parker used a paper based system.  The QAs were recorded on paper, and then gradually entered into central location where they could be tallied.  This system was adequate at the time because the number of evaluations per intern was quite low. 

In September 2002, the Chiropractic Accreditation board increased the number of evaluations required for interns, from 5 to 75.  This change made it impossible to stay with the paper system.  While researching alternatives, Parker found that other institutions were using Pendragon Forms and handhelds to collect data digitally and on site.

The development and implementation time was approximately 3 months.  Creating the form designs took about an hour.  Form training was very painless and took about an hour.

There were two challenging components to the project that were not related to the handheld forms software.  The first was obtaining the intern and patient data from the AS400 and inputting it in the SQL database so that the form and asp page could query it.  The second challenge was finding a handheld that had a reliable wireless LAN card add-on. 

Benefits & ROI:

Customer Quote:

The benefits of using the Pendragon Forms include: 

• Individuals who were responsible for managing the evaluation data now have been able to take on other job responsibilities. 

• Staff doctors can now easily monitor their interns’ progress anywhere and at any time via a wired computer or their wireless handheld. 

• Students can also stay up to date on their evaluation progress by receiving their weekly reports. 

"There is no way that Parker could have managed all these evaluations without Pendragon forms. The alternative was hiring a full time position to manage the paper trail.  We are currently looking at other ways to utilize this great application here on campus and off.

Our ROI for the 6 months this application has been in use is approximately $25,000 or the cost of another full-time clinic employee."