Snowsuite
Overview
SnowSuite is an innovative anaesthesia information management product suite. Using SnowSuite, anaesthetists can:
- capture structured, full or partial anaesthetic records on a hand-held computer.
- print high quality, customised records at convenient hospital locations.
- store records in searchable identity-preserving or anonymised repositories.
- export records in an open format for uptake by other information systems.
SnowSuite-Personal System Components
SnowSuite-Personal consists of three components:
- SnowMate - a PDA based data capture system for anaesthetic records.
- SnowPrint - a lightweight printing application that can be installed on multiple PCs.
- SnowStore - a searchable repository for clinical documents, which can be installed on a PC or laptop.
SnowSuite-Personal is designed to be "owned" and operated by an individual clinician. It allows anaesthetists to use advanced hand-held systems for clinical data capture in their own working environments. SnowSuite-Personal is free for a limited trial period, after which a group of clinicians in a department of anaesthesia may choose to upgrade to SnowSuite-Department.
SnowSuite-Department System Components
SnowSuite-Department extends SnowSuite-Personal with the following features:
- An upgraded version of SnowStore, which allows multiple clinicians to enter records into the same store, and provides faster and more powerful search facilities than Snowstore-Personal.
- Viewing and printing displays configured to local requirements.
- SnowMate document types, sections, fields, lists, and numeric ranges configured to local requirements.
- Sets of SnowMate macros, e.g. instruction sets, discussion topic lists, detailed anaesthetic plans etc., configured for each clinician in the department.
SnowSuite-Department is highly configurable, quickly installed, flexible in use and inexpensive. It offers the potential for radically new approaches to clinical information management in anaesthesia.
Upgrades
Further upgrade options are available. For example:
- Although SnowSuite-Personal uses an SD Card for information transfer, SnowSuite can be configured to use other communication modes, such as docking, GPRS, Bluetooth or Wireless LAN.
- Information can be transferred to, as well as from, mobile devices. This capability could be used to integrate with existing systems, such as theatre management systems and lab systems.
- SnowSuite can be extended to handle not only clinical records, but also clinical management information, such as rotas, task schedules and reference information for trainees.