The Mobile Access Channel (MAC) allows graphically-configured physician portal queries and portlets to be deployed onto tablet computers using XHTML-compliant web browsers. We spent much of 2010 experimenting with Rich Internet Application technolgies from Adobe (Flash/Flex) and Microsoft (Silverlight) before realizing that by sticking with XHTML5 we makes the MAC non-proprietary and futureproof, while bein thoroughly adequate for a read-only portal. As a result if this move, we now support "all" platforms of tablets and smartphones that provide a good browser.
If your site already has a Care Data portal (aslo known as the Access Channel), there is very little work needed to deploy the Mobile Access channel because it uses all the same configurations and back-end services (query service, access decision serviice, LDAP authentication and authorizations, audit trails, physician preferences for lab displays).
The steps to implement MAC are as follows. If you are starting from scratch, start at step 1. If you are adding the MAC at an existing Care Data installation, then start at step 2.
- Create parts such as result areas, detail forms, and queries to fill them and then specify the "context" variables that control how user's selections will cause queries to fire. If you already have a Care Data portal, skip to step 2. Care Data will train and assist as needed not only with the front end, but with the repository, identity correlation, and back-end HL7 interfacing.
- Use the part editor to selectively arrange your configured parts onto separate tabs (e.g. Visits, labs, etc. each with a patient header at the top) so that users need not do horizontal scrolling to get to things. Note that all parts use thier context variables so as to refresh at appropriately when picks are made by the user - regardless of the fact that you are moving parts around. You can test the real-estate usage right in your suitaly-resized desktop browser or right on the tablet. Remember - it's just a web site.
- For result areas and detail forms that are still taking too much real estate - requiring excessive scrolling, selectively clone and trim them as needed. For result sets, consider reducing the number of rows dsiplayed and eliminaite the rarely-used or less important columns. for detail forms, eliminate the rarely-used or less important fields or scrunch their displayed width. Remember that the user can always go to the desktop or notebook for them. Note that the same base of configured queries and query groups can continue to serve these parts, and they do not need to be re-assoicated or midifed in any way.
- Deploy the generated configuration files to a web server and set up property files to point to the back end services.
- Little or no user training is necessary because the MAC UI is so similar to the desktop UI except that some visual components are now on separate tabs and some fields or columns have been removed to save space.
- If you wish to support smartphones as well, you can either have smartphone users hit the pages that you have optimized for tablets (with some annoying scrolling), or you can clone and trim one more time - to make a site that is optimal for the phones. Again, all the queries and security mechanisms from authentication through audit trails are still in effect.
Contact Care Data for access to a MAC demo site.
