POS Touch Screen Monitors Spread To Healthcare
Critical data for healthcare research is collected through POS (point
of sale) touch screen monitors. How else can touch screen monitors
complement non-POS applications?
If you are a VAR selling POS touch screen monitors who thinks the market for monitors in hospitality and POS is reaching maturity, think beyond traditional uses for those monitors. The healthcare industry is booming, and with a shortage of employees, technology-related solutions are spreading throughout the medical industry. Lakin Ducker, now the president of Health Care Online, Inc., a medical research software and services company, was inspired to start his company after he had several conversations with doctors involved in healthcare research that tracked data on paper. Ducker investigated medical research processes and found that pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers (e.g. makers of artificial joints, devices that treat spinal cord injuries, organ replacement devices) are required to test their medication and devices on humans prior to widespread usage.
The manual data gathering process required for the research increases the overall cost of studies, delays their effectiveness, and increases the labor required to sustain them. As a result, Health Care Online created and marketed a solution that included Web-based data gathering software and Tatung LCD touch screen monitors. Most medical device companies’ research is completed at several different locations around the world. Data is gathered from patients and medical employees including doctors, nurses, and clinicians. “Typically, the patients involved in the studies are older and less computer savvy than those working in the medical field,” says Ducker. “Therefore, our software was created to be used with touch screen monitors to enable straightforward data input for patients. It’s also a Web-based application, so it can be used anywhere within the United States and overseas, as well. We started using Tatung’s LCD monitors after I read a positive review on them. We still use Tatung monitors, but now it’s a combination of LCD and touch screen monitors that are traditionally used for POS applications. We also use the Tatung and Toshiba tablet PCs.”
Touch Screens Coupled With Software Boost Healthcare Sales
One medical device company contracted to have the Health Care Online solution installed at five medical locations around the United States. This device company achieved success and reduced labor costs so significantly that its funding allowed the company to expand the solution to five additional U.S. sites. “This customer makes several products that need to be tested,” says Ducker. “Consequently, the company requested the solution for an additional study it was preparing for. After each study is completed, the sponsoring company [device or pharmaceutical company] decides whether to keep the equipment or not. Sometimes the equipment and software is reused for more upcoming research, and at times the duration of the research is so lengthy that the hardware is reassigned to other areas of a medical facility.” Some of Health Care Online’s customers find it’s more cost-effective to purchase new equipment for each study.
Experience, Communications Improve Software, Services
While visiting one of the medical facilities using Health Care Online’s solution, a pharmaceutical company saw the software and touch screens in use for a medical device study. They later contacted Ducker about installing the solution at their worldwide research facilities. Therefore, Health Care Online has expanded its customers to pharmaceutical companies as well as medical device companies.
So, as a reseller of POS touch screens, consider nontraditional uses of your equipment. Ducker enhanced his software to meet the clinical and technical needs for the healthcare industry and found benefits from both LCD and POS touch screen monitors. By listening to customers and researching new verticals, your novel experimentation of existing equipment could open doors in a niche market like healthcare research.