TAP.NET: a windows messaging service for nursing staff.

Nurses are the foundation of any healthcare system. It is essential to alert nurses on time so that they can offer care and comfort without any delay. Pager messages (short messages) represent an important part of the overall hospital communication network. These short messages are sent through data paging systems to direct nurses to patients. Telocator Alphanumeric Protocol (TAP) is used for submitting short messages to these data paging systems. In this paper, a windows messaging service (TAP.NET) is designed to connect to a data paging system using the TAP protocol. A Web application is also proposed that uses remote technology to transmit page requests to this messaging service. With this overall design, pager messages can be sent from any computer that has an Internet connection on the hospital network. A logging scheme is also introduced to assess the performance of the TAP.NET.