The Internal Value of Mobile Computing in Emergency Medical Services: An Australian Case Study

Interest in mobile computing applications has been increasing over the past few years. The Healthcare sector has recognized the potential for providing at "point-of-care" access to applications through mobile devices. The business value of the implementation of information technology (IT) has been studied from various perspectives. This paper explores the value of the implementation of mobile computing on the efficiency and effectiveness of an Emergency Medical Services organization in Australia. The research question that is addressed in this paper is: In what way do mobile systems deliver internal value in emergency healthcare organizations? The paper evaluates the responses by various stakeholders in an Australian Emergency Service organization. The paper makes the following three contributions. First, the case study indicates that the introduction of mobile systems can support ambulance services in providing more efficient and effective information that could potentially impact on their performance evaluation. Second. a number of advantages of the mobile system for emergency services are highlighted. Third, a delicate balance between internal data capture requirements versus external requirements of readability of the final electronic Patient Care Record is highlighted.

1. Introduction

Interest in mobile computing applications has been increasing over the past few years. One indication of this is that by 2003, Microsoft had registered 11,000 applications, and now has more than 380,000 professional Windows Mobile developers worldwide [37]. The Healthcare sector has also begun recognizing the potential for providing at “point-of-care” access to applications through mobile devices, for the healthcare professional [9], [24], [32].