Kiosk Information Systems Contracts With ICU-USA To Improve Communication Among Physicians, Patients and Family Members

BROOMFIELD, Colo. - Kiosk Information Systems recently announced its contract with ICU-USA.com Inc. - an organization dedicated to improving understanding about critical healthcare environments via its Web site. KIOSK will manufacture Internet kiosks that provide information on intensive care unit-related medical conditions, drugs, procedures, equipment and more to family members and friends of ICU patients.

Designed for placement in ICU waiting rooms and hospital lobbies, the ICU-USA kiosks provide users with a direct link to ICU-USA.com, an easy-to-use Web site that features medical content written in layman's terms by ICU clinicians. ICU-USA.com is divided into the following categories: What Will Happen?, Specialized ICUs, Pharmacy, Children and the ICU, Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR), Questions to Always Ask, Legal Issues, Outcomes and Options, and more. The kiosks offer information that helps family members and friends better understand their loved one's condition during a critical time. This knowledge improves communication between family members and medical staff and frequently reduces the family's anxiety.

In addition to ICU-specific content, the kiosks offer users hospital- and area-specific information such as physician directories and listings of local restaurants and lodging facilities, as well as access to a second Web site, MedCenter-USA.com. MedCenter-USA.com provides up-to-date information on general health and disease by functioning as a portal to a variety of medical and healthcare Web sites that have been peer reviewed by medical professionals for appropriateness and accuracy. Both ICU-USA.com and MedCenter-USA.com can be accessed via kiosks in medical facilities or directly on the Internet from a personal computer.

ICU-USA.com's first kiosk deployments were implemented in March with installations at Iowa Heart Hospital at Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines, Iowa. The second round of deployments occurred in July at Evanston Hospital in Evanston, Ill. Additional installations will take place this fall at Barnes-Jewish Hospital's Siteman Cancer Center in St. Louis, Mo., and Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, Ill.

"By working with KIOSK, ICU-USA has created inviting, aesthetically-pleasing kiosks that are user-friendly and durable for public use," said Timothy Abernathy, president of ICU-USA.com Inc. "KIOSK possessed the expertise we needed to design and manufacture a unit that would help us avoid deployment problems down the road. KIOSK was instrumental in helping our company evolve from a Web site into a branded marketplace fixture."

Rick Malone, president of KIOSK, viewed the ICU-USA project as an example of how the healthcare industry can greatly benefit from the deployment of kiosks. "User intimidation was one of ICU-USA's biggest obstacles when they came to us," Malone said. "To address this problem, we designed a unit that can be operated while seated or standing and installed a trackball that allows users to easily navigate the Web sites. The configuration encourages family members to approach the unit and search for the information they need."

About KIOSK
Founded in 1993, KIOSK is the established leader in the design and manufacturing of indoor and outdoor kiosks, public Internet stations and other electronic self-service informational terminals. Recognized as one of the fastest growing companies in the United States, KIOSK' revenue growth of 2,048% over the last eight years has earned the company a place on the Inc. 500 list and on both the Colorado Fast 50 and the nation's Technology Fast 500 by Deloitte & Touche. KIOSK has provided innovative kiosks for a who's who of corporate clients including McDonalds, Citibank, IBM, Borders, Mercedes Benz and Conoco, as well as numerous government agencies and universities. Having produced thousands of kiosks for over 600 different applications, including human resources, interactive and transactional retail, and security applications, KIOSK has the most in-depth experience and expertise in the kiosk industry. Contact KIOSK at 303-466-5471 or www.kis-kiosk.com for more information on its complete line of kiosks and contract manufacturing capabilities.

About ICU-USA.com Inc.
ICU-USA.com Inc. is an organization dedicated to improving communication and understanding in critical healthcare environments via its Web site. ICU-USA.com assists family members and friends of ICU patients by explaining ICU-related medical conditions, drugs, procedures, equipment and supplies. Written in layman's terms by ICU-USA's principals who draw upon over 60 combined years of clinical ICU experience, ICU-USA.com increases the quality of communication between doctors, patients and family members. ICU-USA.com is the official patient and family Web site of the Chicago-based Society of Critical Care Medicine, the largest organization of ICU clinicians in the world.

# # #