Ø WE HAVE SEEN A RAPID ADVANCEMENT IN APPLICATION OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Ø THE WORLD WIDE WEB, FURTHER ACCELERATES THIS ADVANCEMENT

Ø MOST OF THE HEALTH CARE INSTITUTIONS INCLUDING UNITED STATES, STILL MAINTAIN MOST OF THERE PATIENT RECORDS IN FORM OF PAPER CHARTS

Ø SMART CARD TECHNOLOGY IS RECOGNIZED BY AS A POTENTIAL SOLUTION TO EFFECTIVELY AND ACCURATELY MANAGE PATIENT’S MEDICAL RECORD

Ø SMART CARD BASED ON OPTICAL MEMORY OFFERS STORAGE CAPACITY UPTO 4 – 6 Mb

Ø THE CARD CAN STORE BASIC PATIENT INFORMATION SUCH AS NAME, ADDRESS, PHOTOGRAPHS, PIN SECURITY, BLOOD TYPE, DRUG ALLERGIES, REGULAR PRESCRIBED DRUGS

Ø IT CAN EVEN INCLUDE MULTIMEDIA-RICH INFORMATION UCH AS SCAN PHOTOGRAPHY IMAGES AND VOICE RECORDINGS

Ø ALTHOUGH SMART CARD PRESENTS AN ATTRACTIVE ALTERNATIVE TO RECORDING COMPLEX MEDICAL RECORD, IT HAS FAILED TO GAIN THE CRITICAL MASS REQUIRED TO SPIN OFF A WIDE MARKET ACCEPTANCE OF SUCH TECHNOLOGY

Ø MOST USAGE OF SMART CARDS IN MEDICAL ARENA IS RESTRICTED TO LARGE ORGANIZATIONS SUCH AS STATE HOSPITALS, HEALTH INSURANCE GROUPS AND GOVERNMENT CLINICS

Ø SUN HAS DEVELOPED THE JAVA CARD API SPECIFICATIONS TO FACILITATE THE CONCEPT OF “WRITE ONCE , RUN ON ALL CARDS”

Ø SMART CARD TECHNOLOGY PRESENTS A NEW PARADIGM OF COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT BASED ON EMBEDDING PROCESSING ELEMENTS ON A CREDIT CARD SIZED PLATFORM.

Ø THE PATIENT’S INFORMATION IS AUGMENTED WITH ACTIVE PROGRAMS RESIDING WITHIN THE SMART CARD PROVIDE RICH SERVICES SUCH AS RECORD MANAGMENT FACILITIES, SECURITY AND AUTHENTICATION, AND CLINICAL ALERT SYSTEM

Ø THE SERVICES PROVIDED ARE RESTRICTED TO SIMPLE PATIENT’S RECORD MANAGEMENT WORKFLOW OPERATING WITHIN DEPARTMENTS OF AN ORGANIZATION

Ø AS THE DATABASE “TRAVELS” TO A NEW LOCATION, THE JCWS DYNAMICALLY BINDS THE DATABASE , TO PROVIDE WEB BASED BROWSING AND UPDATING SERVICES

Ø JCWS FRAMEWORK IS DESIGNED TO SUPPORT BOTH OFFLINE AND ONLINE OPERATIONS OF SMART CARD INFORMATION ACCESS

Ø THE WEB BROWSER SUPPORTS A RICH SPECTRUM OF COMPUTING PARADIGM INCLUDING CLIENT SIDE PROGRAMMING USING SERVLETS, PLUG-INS, CGI INTERFACE AND XML

Ø OBJECTIVE OF JCWS ARCHITECTURE IS TO FORM A WEB SERVICE INTERFACE BETWEEN THE SMART CARD DATA OBJECTS REPOSITORY AND A STANDARD WEB BROWSER

Ø THE ATTRACTIVE BENEFIT OF SUCH TECHNOLOGY IS IN THE ABILITY OF THE FRAMEWORK TO OPERATE IN AN AUTONOMOUS MODE WITHOUT THE NEED TO ENGAGE IN ONLINE OPERATION

Ø CONCLUDING REMARKS

INTERFACE BETWEEN THE SMART CARD AND WEB BROWSER IS ACHIEVED USING STANDARD http REQUEST-REPLY VIA THE JCWS SERVICE

Ø JCWS SUPPORTS FILE ACCESS OPEN PROGRAMMING INTERFACE CALL USING JAVA REMOTE METHOD INVOCATION

Ø TO TRULY EXERCISE THE POTENTIAL OF JCWS FRAMEWORK, IT IS CRUCIAL TO DEVELOP A DOMAIN SPECIFIC CLINICAL APPLICATION THAT DIRECTLY LEVERAGE ON SERVICES PROVIDED BY THE UNDERLYING TECHNOLOGY