The Centre Hospitalier de la Region d'Annecy (CHRA) has installed over 600 Smart Terminals - integrating voice, data, and imaging - and believed to be the largest deployment of its kind in France, a press release said.

The JAOtech Obie terminals boast secure access to patient data while providing bedside digital entertainment including on demand video, radio and broadband connectivity.

"This is a completely new environment for us - something very innovative that changes the way we work," said Dr Jacques Gaillard, head of the hospital's Infectious Disease Ward. "We have instant access to patient records, putting us in a position to make a full clinical assessment on the spot."

The terminals are activated by staff ID badges, and sport 17" touch screen displays. Staff can also prescribe treatments for delivery by the hospital's fully automated pharmacy.

"Using the prescription system, we can immediately take that assessment forward and prescribe the most appropriate treatment from the range of options that we have available at the hospital," said Dr. Gaillard. "Our clinical assessment, together with any treatment provided, can then be recorded on the spot rather than leaving this as a task for later."

Based on a digital hospital concept, prescriptions at CHRA are delivered to the ward through an automatic system of robots. The system has been implemented across 600 beds at the CHRA.

Warren Kressinger-Dunn, managing director of JAOtech, commented, "Electronic medical records are becoming more and more sophisticated in European healthcare organisations, and the installation at Annecy illustrates how JAOtech terminals are a key link bringing those records to the point of care when consultations are taking place."