Mobile Task Management for Medical Ward Rounds - The MEDo Approach

In hospitals, ward rounds are crucial for decision-making in the context of patient treatment processes. In the course of a ward round, new tasks are de ned and allocated to physicians and nurses. In clinical practice, however, these tasks are not systematically managed. During ward rounds, they are jotted down using pen and paper, and their later processing is prone to errors. Furthermore, medical sta must keep track of the processing status of its tasks (e.g., medical orders). To relieve sta members from such a manual task management, the MEDo approach supports ward rounds by transforming the pen and paper worksheet to a mobile user interface on a tablet integrating process support, mobile task management, and access to the electronic patient record. Interviews we conducted have con rmed that medical sta craves for mobile task and process support on wards. Furthermore, in several user experiments, we have proven that MEDo puts task acquisition on a level comparable to that of pen and paper. Overall, with MEDo, physicians can create, monitor and share tasks using a mobile and user-friendly platform.