Project Seeks To Speed Up Doctors' VisitsProject Seeks To Speed Up Doctors' Visits

It's many patients' pet peeve: Show up on time for a doctor's appointment, then wait well beyond the scheduled time to be seen. Not only is that wasted time for patients, it's inefficient for doctors trying to provide quality time and attention to each patient.

To help make medical scheduling more efficient, IBM and Florida International University said last week they're working together to develop advanced-scheduling software based on autonomic-computing technology. This emerging area aims to give systems "more self management," akin to the human autonomic nervous system, says David Kaminsky, a principal in IBM's autonomic-computing practice who is involved with the Florida International development work.

The goal of the software is to create capabilities that take into account a variety of factors and historical information, including patient behavior and needs. IBM is supplying hardware and software to the university for the project, including eServer pSeries and xSeries systems and ThinkPad laptops, as well as the WebSphere Commerce application server and DB2 Universal Database.

Determining a more accurate appointment start time is economically significant in hospital environments, says Dr. Niki Pissinou, a Florida International professor and director of its Telecommunication & Information Technology Institute. For instance, an MRI machine can be more efficiently used for patient tests if the scheduling process takes into account usage spikes, types of procedures, and how long a doctor might need to wait for the equipment between patients.

In addition to the scheduling software, the partnership will apply technology to improve the security of patient's digital health records. The software will be tested within the next year at a few health-care providers, including Baptist Health Systems of South Florida.

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