Mobile Patient Encounter System

The Mobile Patient Encounter System for the third year medical program provides an easy way for students to capture data from patient interactions during clinical training in community settings. Using the MPE system on a handheld computing device such as a PDA will allow you to:

• Keep a record of your patient encounters during your clinical training
• Review your clinical experience with your assigned clerkship directors
• Provide your clerkship directors and the school with a report of your overall clinical experience

This web site contains all necessary information regarding the MPE system as well as excellent resources for clinical applications for the PDA. Please contact us if you have any questions, problems or suggestions regarding the MPE program or PDA use.

How MPE Works

MPE can be accessed via the web on any computer that is connected to the internet, or via your PDA. These must both meet certain compatibility requirements, and the PDA must have specific versions of the AvantGo program installed.

Requirements for the web based version are:

• Internet Explorer version 5 or higher
• Firefox 1.5 or higher

The URL is: http://library.cpmc.columbia.edu/mpe

Your logon is your Columbia UNI; be sure to change your initial default password to one you will remember. Best practice: change your password to match your Columbia UNI password, but keep in mind that if you change your main UNI (email) password, your MPE password will not automatically change. IMPORTANT: When you change your password, please remember to change it in AGConnect or MBConnect (depending on your device and computer's operating system) on your mobile device as well as the PC.

To change your password:

1. Login into MPE web system: http://library.cpmc.columbia.edu/mpe
2. Select 'Click here to change your password' on the home page
3. Enter your old password or the default password, your new password, and then the confirmation (retype) of your new password
4. Go to your mobile device and use AGConnect to update your password on the device to match your new password

Very Important: Please remember to change the password using AGConnect on your PDA device. If you receive a login error when synching, please change the AGConnect or MBConnect password on the AvantGo server:
http://mpes.cpmc.columbia.edu:8091/
The UserName will be your UNI, and for the password type in your previous password.
Select the "Your Account" tab, and reset your password. Submit the changed password and logout. Try to sync your device with the new password.

Guidelines for selecting a good password:

• Passwords must be between 6 and 8 characters in length (you may use your email password).
• Passwords should be hard to guess.
• Good choices include a mixture of upper and lowercase letters, and numbers.
• Passwords should not be words that can be found in a dictionary of any language.
• Do not use your name, or the name of a family member, friend, or pet for a password.
• Keep your password secret - it is a violation of Columbia computing policies to share passwords!

PDA Requirements:

Palm
• Operating system must be the Palm OS
• Brands of hardware: Zire, Tungsten, Palm series
• For more information see:
  http://www.palm.com/us/

Pocket PC
• Operating system must be Windows Mobile
• Brands of hardware: Dell, Hewlett-Packard
• For more information see:
  http://www.dell.com
  http://www.hp.com
  http://www.pocketpcmag.com

General
• At least 64MB of memory to run the MPE System, the PDA's operating system, and other programs you may want to use.
  NOTE: MPE will work on PDAs with 32MB of available, free memory, however no other applications can be in use other than those required for MPE. MPE requires 8MB of memory to run, and 8MB more for the required AvantGo program and data storage.
  The PDA's Operating System and other applications you may want to install on your device will take up memory. We have also found that there have been many issues with PDAs that do not have enough memory available. If you use a PDA that has only 32MB of installed memory, we strongly recommend adding a memory expansion card.
• High resolution display

You will also need to have access to a system that can synchronize the MPE data from your PDA, via a cable or Infrared (IR). Wireless connections are not supported for MPE due to the need for secure transmission of patient data, there is not currently a compatible version of VPN for mobile devices on the CUMC campus.

Contact

If you have any questions or issues, please contact the Information Commons Help Desk at 212-305-Help (4357). Please also be sure to check the MPE FAQ page for common problems and solutions.