Panasonic Toughbook Sets A New Standard For MCAS - New Technology Designed By Nurses For Nurses

Main Category: Nursing / Midwifery
Also Included In: IT / Internet / E-mail
Article Date: 11 Nov 2008 - 3:00 PDT

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An innovative Mobile Clinical Assistant (MCA) has launched to meet the demands of busy nurses struggling with products currently on the market. Panasonic has worked with a team of 100 clinicians to develop the Toughbook CF-H1 MCA. As well as easing workloads and improving patient care the new lightweight, hand held device has been specifically designed to help infection control and survive a real clinical environment.

Barbara Stuttle CBE, the National Clinical Lead for Nursing, at NHS Connecting for Health, led a team of nurses to help develop the new technology to suit their needs. She says: 'Nurses are under increasing pressure to deliver first rate patient care and with increasing demands on their time they need access to efficient equipment. MCA's are invaluable tools and I am delighted that Panasonic valued the contribution of nurses to develop this new hardware. It can support them in their practice and can also help address the issue of infection control, which remains a priority for clinicians and ultimately patients.'

The MCA is rugged and capable of withstanding drops, shocks, temperature change and liquids , the device even boosts a self-clean mode, telling the user if it has been cleaned properly - a key weapon in the fight against infection.

The new technology can meet the highest demands by busy hospital staff as nurses will be able to access up-to-the minute patient records and document a patient's condition instantly, improving clinical workflow and easing workloads.

The new Toughbook is the first MCA to use the low power Intel® Atom™ processor and have a slot-less Smartcard Reader, to maintain cleanliness and keep patient data secure. It is also the first fan-less MCA and remains constantly cool thanks to the new Intel® processor.

Other features of the Toughbook® include:

- Hot swappable batteries which allow non-stop computing on the move
- A Smartcard and fingerprint reader
- Ergonomically designed handle
- Wireless functions including a WLAN connection, Bluetooth and RFID reader
- 2M pixels camera

A roadshow demonstrating the benefits of the new product is touring the country throughout November and December. For further details, please visit www.toughbook.eu/uk-roadshows.

Further details on the Panasonic Toughbook range can be found at http://www.toughbook.eu

About the MCA Roadshow 2008

The dates and locations for the road show are outlined below:

Date Location

Tuesday 11 November 2008 Cambridge
Wednesday 12 November 2008 Leicester
Thursday 13 November 2008 Leeds
Tuesday 18 November 2008 Manchester
Wednesday 19 November 2008 Newcastle
Thursday 20 November 2008 Glasgow
Tuesday 25 November 2008 Belfast
Tuesday 2 December 2008 London
Wednesday 3 December 2008 Bristol
Thursday 4 December 2008 Cardiff

About Panasonic

Panasonic Corporation is a worldwide leader in the development and manufacture of electronic products for a wide range of consumer, business, and industrial needs. Based in Osaka, Japan, the company recorded consolidated net sales of 9.07 trillion yen (US$90.7 billion) for the year ended March 31, 2008. The company's shares are listed on the Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya and New York (NYSE Symbol: PC) stock exchanges. For more information on the company and the Panasonic brand, visit the company's website at http://panasonic.net.

Panasonic Corporation