VA Taps DSHI to Develop App for Tablets

The Veterans Health Administration (VA) has tapped DSHI Systems to create a tablet-based mobile triage system for the emergency room that determines how urgently a patients needs to be seen by a physician. The application, called ER Mobile, will help emergency room nurses better identify the sickest patients so that they can be cared for first. The app also aims to improve workflow efficiency for care providers since it automates some documentations and speeds up the process of determining which patients need cardiac monitors, CT scans, x-rays, blood tests, or other diagnostic tests.

The idea for ER Mobile came out of the VA Employee Innovation Competition, which generated 6,500 ideas, but only about two dozen were chose for further investigation. DSHI plans to complete its first prototype of the ER Mobile app by August of this year.

DSHI is working with Document Storage Systems (DSS) to create the offering. DSS is the primary contractor for the process and it will provide an interface between ER Mobile and the VA’s VistA EMR system. DSS will also pass vital signs information and other biometric data through the ER Mobile app. Because of this integration, the app will also create a record of the interactions it facilitates between providers and patients right in the VA’s EMR...