Infrastructure

The right device is dependent upon the user, where it will be used and the tasks being performed.

There is no one-size-fits-all mobile computing solution in healthcare, but one point is universal: With the adoption of electronic medical records (EMR) on the rise – from 34.8 percent in 2007 to 43.9 percent in 2009, according to the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics – it’s critical to pair EMR software with the right mobile computer. Without the proper pairing, you’ll either lose money on your investment or fail to maximize it.

Offering everything from videoconferencing to security-enabled medication management, these aren’t your grandfather’s carts.

It could be said that the 21st century is the Golden Age of mobile workstations. Gone are the days of clunky, squeaky-wheeled shopping carts on steroids. The confluence of necessity and cutting-edge technology have conspired to transform today’s mobile workstations, carts and COWs (computers on wheels) from the frumpy flotsam of our forefathers into the beautiful belles of the ball.

Aside from traditional telephone (voice) systems, pre-Internet protocol (IP) hospital communication systems were primarily devoted to life safety and monitoring applications, such as nurse call systems and fire alarms. Because of their life safety implications, these systems became strictly regulated. They were, and often still are, required to have their own dedicated infrastructures.

Community health center Urban Health Plan enhances patient service and simplifies management with unified communications system.

The cabling installed today has to meet the requirements of the cabling for tomorrow.
Most data centers are planning for speeds of 10-Gigabit Ethernet.

Data centers are basically big computer rooms that use optimized infrastructure components to support servers, storage and networking equipment devices. Such centers have grown to consume about 2 percent of the total U.S. electrical usage and are forecast to consume 9 percent of the U.S. total by the year 2020.

Grove Hill’s new cabling infrastructure supports both its bandwidth and flexibility needs in a single solution.

A common dilemma for IT professionals is selecting a network infrastructure that can offer future-proof support of the organization’s most bandwidth-intensive applications and users without over compensating for less speed-critical connectivity needs. A healthcare organization could install multiple channels of varying cable types and performance levels or, as Connecticut-based Grove Hill Medical Center did – choose a single cabling solution.

Grove Hill Medical Center offers services ranging from routine check-ups to the latest diagnostic imaging. Home to more than 70 physicians, Grove Hill covers 19 medical specialties, including cardiology, oncology, orthopedics and radiology, as well as housing administrative and patient-service offices. When Grove Hill began the upgrade to its network cabling infrastructure, it did so with a wide range of network applications, users and challenges in mind.

Leading healthcare organization explores the benefits and challenges of voice-over-Internet-protocol technology.

When ProMedica Health Systems of Ohio and Michigan broke ground on its largest construction effort to date – a state-of-the-art campus at Toledo Hospital and Toledo Children’s Hospital – it also overhauled its 20-year-old phone system, deploying a voice-over-Internet-protocol (VoIP) network.

"We knew that VoIP technology promised countless business benefits well suited to healthcare services," explains Bruce Meyer, technical coordinator for the voice-and-data infrastructure at ProMedica Health Systems. "We also knew that with those benefits came increased risk of system downtime and performance problems. In an emergency situation, our staff doesn’t have the luxury of time to find another phone if theirs is not working, so we needed an effective, reliable solution that we could manage end to end."

Replacing aging workstations with state-of-the-art technology yields big improvements for an Arizona-based group of clinics.

For Andrew Willy, information-systems manager with Scottsdale Medical Imaging, there was only one way to confront the aging workstations on which radiologists relied for diagnosing everything from broken legs to cancer. New equipment was needed.

In 25 years of serving patients and the medical community at 10 clinics spread across the East Valley area of Phoenix, the group had enjoyed ongoing success with equipment from HP – and Willy decided to stay with the vendor's products. "Having the right technology sets the foundation for the clinic to provide quality medical care for each patient that walks through its doors," he says.