Case Study

Timothy N. Harwood, M.D.

Anesthesiology Department

Wake Forest University School of Medicine

Winston-Salem, NC

Before Pendragon Forms:

Nurses in the anesthesiology department of a large medical center were responsible for monitoring post-surgical patient care.  Each day they documented the status and complications of more than 100 patients. 

Without personnel to transcribe paper forms, the nurses needed a portable way to enter data directly into the database while at the patient's bedside.

Pendragon Forms Solution:

Dr. Harwood developed a 40-item Pendragon form (and subforms) that have been used on 4 Palm V's  for almost three years. Even new computer users have found the forms to be very easy to use and the forms have never corrupted or accidentally deleted.

"Pendragon Forms makes it extremely easy to develop forms, and importing old data into new forms is almost seamless," says Dr. Harwood.  He developed initial form in 45 minutes and says that edition changes are made in 5-10 minutes.

Using Palm handhelds equipped with the forms, nurses record data from each encounter at the patient's bedside during the day. They synchronize forms data at the end of each day and recharge the Palms prior to leaving. The database resides on a desktop PC used for department quality improvement initiatives.

Benefits: