Feb 22, 2011 17:41 GMT  ·  By

PatientSafe Solutions has announced the PatientTouch application, a patient care solution designed exclusively for Apple’s iPod touch. The app has completed beta testing and is now widely available to hospital nurses and caregivers, the company said.

A provider of clinical mobility solutions to hospitals, PatientSafe aims to connect healthcare information in one accessible, organized and familiar wireless device at the patient’s bedside.

PatientTouch enables care providers to efficiently deliver quality care while reducing the potential of clinical errors, the company said in a report.

“We use PatientTouch to enable our nurses to immediately close the medication administration loop at the bedside,” said Tarun Ghosh, senior vice president and chief information officer of Fremont-Rideout Health Group, Yuba City, Calif.

“By doing so, we are not only reducing medical errors and improving medication reconciliation, we are also increasing our productivity and reducing costs while working towards key milestones required to meet Stage 1 of Meaningful Use,” Ghosh added.

Designed with features and functionality that map directly to clinical workflows and hospital best practices and policies and procedures, PatientTouch provides caregivers at 88 hospitals nationwide with real-time documentation, wireless functionality, alerts and reminders, the ability to connect with other members of their care team, and more.

The solution also integrates directly with any enterprise system that is HL7 compliant, PatientSafe said, as well as two extra modules to further enhance caregivers’ abilities to deliver high quality patient care.

These include Medication Administration and Nursing Interventions.

Medication Administration features 5 rights checking, real-time documentation, connection to medication administration record, pharmacy information systems and electronic medical record/ clinical information system.

The module also delivers sophisticated clinical workflows such as dosing support, alerts and situation-specific clinical observations, according to PatientSafe.

The Nursing Interventions modules features point-of-care vitals, assessments, safety best practices, real-time documentation and evidenced based best practices, PatientSafe said.

PatientTouch is available to hospitals in the United States exclusively through PatientSafe Solutions.