Security, Portability, Cost and Software (Score 1)

I have recently had the opportunity to sit in on a Medical Informatics panel at a Philadelphia area hospital and discussed the role of technology with a cross section of doctors, administrators, and residents. One the largest issues that the residents had was portability. They complained about previous experiments involving laptops because they were cumbersome to bring to the point of care. this is one way in which the PDA's shine, and sub-laptop devices could find a niche. At this hospital they have a set amount of money that is set aside for purchasing new hardware/software for the residents. This could be spent on laptops, PDA's, or sun workstations if they felt so inclined. This makes any decvice a tradeoff for some other gadget. Security is also a large concern because if the patient information is not secure then the hospital is open to many lawsuits. It seems that the use of opensource products should be encouraged but the level of technical expertise is not very high, and there are support questions. the other issue that comes up is the availability of software. What software is out there and being used now?