By MICHELLE MAN
Published: July 2009
|
More Healthcare Providers and More Executives
At the Socket Mobile booth, we noticed this increase too, with 45% of our booth visitors representing healthcare providers, including hospitals, long term care facilities, private medical clinics, and other types of caregivers. Representatives from 20 different hospitals stopped by the Socket booth, predominantly from the U.S., but also from institutions in Japan and Kuwait.
Like HIMSS overall, the Socket booth experienced a decrease in the total number of visitors compared to last year. However, more booth visitors this year were high-level executives with decision-making and purchasing power.
 |
Hands-on Demonstrations of Antimicrobial Products
After debuting our first antimicrobial product at last year’s conference, Socket showcased a full suite of antimicrobial products for healthcare at HIMSS’09. This line of products, which are all made with antimicrobial plastics, now includes the SoMo® 650Rx handheld computer, an assortment of both plug-in and Bluetooth barcode scanners, the SoMo 650Rx Back Pack wireless broadband ExpressCard adapter, and a bevy of hardware accessories.
There was a lot more interest this year in scanning 2D barcodes, which are becoming increasingly deployed for positive patient identification, medication verification, and thwarting counterfeit medicines. Socket is currently shipping two products with 2D barcode scanning capability and plans to release more in the next several months.
Hosting Key Healthcare Partners
We had a great time collaborating with some of our key healthcare partners, who demonstrated interesting solutions in our booth:
ARANZ Medical — SilhouetteMobile™ solution digitally measures, assesses, and tracks the progress of wounds without direct contact to the injury.
The Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society — Hands On clinical application enables Activities professionals and Certified Nursing Assistants in senior care facilities to complete documentation at the Point of Care.
Zeta Compliance Technologies — ZetaSafe® application manages regulatory compliance of assets in healthcare facilities.
Taking Part in Other Booths
Besides in our own booth, Socket products were also shown in booths of other vendors at the conference:
 |
Motion Tablet — Socket Bluetooth® Cordless Hand Scanner 7 Rx displayed with a hospital-grade tablet computer.
Hospira — SoMo 650 handheld computer and CompactFlash RFID Reader-Scan Card shown with VeriScan™ application for remotely monitoring medication infusion pumps.
Intelligent InSites — Several SoMo 650 handheld computers demonstrated in RFID-based solutions for tracking the location of patients, staff, equipment, and inventory within a hospital facility.
Post-HIMSS Activities
Exhibiting at HIMSS was one of our first collaborations with partner ARANZ Medical. Soon after the conference, we met with the company again to visit one of the largest managed care organizations in the U.S. We jointly demonstrated mobile patient care solutions in a special technology testing facility designed to simulate a working clinical environment.
Shortly after HIMSS, Socket also exhibited at several healthcare events in the U.K. In April, we teamed with Parity Medical at the British Computer Society Healthcare Computing Showcase and with LaserBand at the Patient Safety Congress. In June, we joined Dakota Integrated Solutions at Smart Healthcare Live.
All in all, HIMSS’09 was a great show for Socket. We got an opportunity to show off our new antimicrobial products and work together with some great partners in the healthcare arena. We also met many people and obtained a lot of high-quality leads, which we have been following up with. Already, we have a list of ideas for making HIMSS’10 an even better event for us and look forward to planning next year’s show.