The Community Occupational Therapy Mobile Information System (COTMIS), a tailor-made system running on a Pocket PC to enhance the service efficiency and quality of community occupational therapy, has been launched recently in Hong Kong.

COTMIS was jointly developed by the Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC) and the Hong Kong Occupational Therapy Association.

Speaking at a press conference Monday, Dr. W. C. Keung, a branch director of HKPC, said that as the first of its kind in Hong Kong, the Pocket PC based system consists of patients' information, scheduled appointments, assessment tools, community resources and aids information.

"The system was introduced in March 2002 following a period of 3 months in design and development. To date, 20 sets of COTMIS are being used at nine occupational therapy departments in various hospitals and rehabilitation centers throughout Hong Kong," Keung added.

Samuel Chan, chairman of the Hong Kong Occupational Therapy Association, said," Designed with the expertise and experience of HKPC in the development of mobile applications, COTMIS enhances the efficiency and the quality of service delivery provided by community occupational therapists."

According to Chan, COTMIS is designed to facilitate the downloading of patient information, scheduled appointments, information on community resources and aids from office PCs to the Pocket PC.

During home visits, the community occupational therapists can directly input data while assessing the safety aspects of the home environment and the patients' level of functioning at home.

The Pocket PC also features a digital camera for recording the home environment. Back in the office, the system can then generate report of the visit automatically.

"The application helps save time, improve productivity and minimize data entry errors. With this new system, occupational therapists will be able to reduce subsequent input effort and paper work for report writing," Chan added.

( April 9, 2002)