May 19, 2004 12:15 PM
Security and Medical Data
It is interesting how the most used PDA platforms today do not pay too much attention to security. Not in a general sense, but in the sense of preventing someone who finds a PDA and tries to use it. Sure, there are third-party applications that may password-protect your PDA. But it seems that still the information is stored without encryption, and you can still access it by connecting the PDA to a computer.
Things like that make privacy advocates worry that medical staff may be carrying medical records of patients with them, and this data may potentially be exposed very easily.
There is one device that has a fingerprint sensor on it, the HP 5550. Unfortunately it is one of the premium models, obviously sold at a premium price. But the same security advocates are a bit happier with the fact that there is added protection in that device.
In my institution, we are allowed to use PDAs, however we are prohibited from entering ANY medical record information on it. So PDA use is basically restricted to a resource of medical knowledge, but we can't keep track of appointments, patients, labs etc.
I would like to hear from you guys about your experiences.
Posted by leo at May 19, 2004 12:15 PM
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