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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2004
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THE INDEPENDENTDAILY AT DUKE UNIVERSITY
Handheld
ONE HUNDREDTH YEAR, ISSUE 34
RLHS preps
Nappy Roots Day at Duke
for crunch to continue
computers
aid doctors by
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Victoria Weston
Sophia Peters THE CHRONICLE
by
THE CHRONICLE
Duke freshmen may have their iPods, but they’re not the only ones with new handheld toys. This year, Duke provided all first-year residents at Duke University Hospital with handheld personal digital assistants during their orientation in June. The residents’ Hewlett-Packard iPAQs, which normally cost between $4OO and $5OO each, came loaded with software from PatientKeeper, a Boston-based company with which the University recendy entered into a partnership. ‘The whole purpose [of the PDAs] is to really empower and to make the workflow efficient for the caregiver,” said AsifAhmad, vice president and chiefinformation officer for Duke University Health System. More than 300 caregivers in DUHS now have immediate, wireless access to patient data through Patient Keeper. The first target audience was incoming residents, along with faculty members that had been part of the pilot program, said Paul Debien, director for mobile computing at Duke Health Technology Solutions. “Orientations are now underway for second-year residents, chief residents and additional departments,” he said. Ahmad estimated that the initiative to improve patient care through mobile computing at Duke University Hospital should be fully completed within the next six months. “I think this is already one of the largest, fastest deployments in the country with PatientKeeper,” Ahmad said. Other institutions, such as Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland have also begun to integrate mobile SEE PDA ON PAGE 6
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First-year residents received PDAs loaded with software for tracking patient information.
PATRICK PHELAN/THE CHRONICLE
The Nappy Roots offer a midterm study break to students as they perform songs from Wooden Leather, theirlatest album, and old favorites in Page Auditorium Tuesday night.
Although the return of the juniors who are studying abroad may bring companionship to their Duke-bound friends, it will present a serious housing crunch dilemma for the Office of Residence Life and Housing Services. The predicted changes in demand for student housing for the spring semester caused by students leaving and returning to campus have led RLHS staff to re-institute a lottery started last year that allows those who have completed five semesters of their six-semester on-campus housing requirement—mostly second-semester juniors—to apply to live offcampus next semester. While RLHS staff members foresee open bed space on West and Central Campuses for next semester, they will not be able to determine the exact number of available rooms until all students—those graduating early, taking leaves of absence, withdrawing from the University or leaving to study abroad—declare their intentions for the upcoming semester by the Oct. 24 deadline. “The problem for returning students is
Cheney, Edwards clash by
SEE LOTTERY ON PAGE 6
over
Iraq
Tom Raum
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Sen. John EdCLEVELAND, Ohio wards accused the George W. Bush administration Tuesday night of bungling the war in Iraq and presiding over a historic loss of jobs. ‘Your facts are just wrong,” Vice President Dick Cheney shot back in the crackling campaign debate. In a clash at close quarters, the Democratic vice presidential candidate accused Cheney of “not being straight” with the public about a war that has claimed more than 1,000 American lives. He said casualties are rising monthly and the United States is bearing 90 percent of the cost of the conflict as well as suffering 90 percent of the dead and wounded. Cheney challenged that statement, saying the Iraqi security forces had taken nearly half of the casualties. ‘Tor you to demean their sacrifice is beyond the pale,” he said to Edwards, seated practically at his elbow. “Oh, I’m not,” the North Carolina senator protested before the vice president cut him off. The two men debated exactly four weeks before Election Day in a race for the SEE DEBATE ON PAGE 6
RICKWILKING/REUTERS
Vice presidential candidate Ui. Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C, (right) gestures toward Vice President Dick Cheney during theirdebate at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, Tuesday.