Better Patient Care Through Mobile Technology
Author: Keith Hoffman
June 2007
Healthcare providers are continually seeking new technologies that enable doctors, nurses, and support staff to better serve patients. Improving patient care, patient safety and eliminating errors continue to drive IT investments, and pave the way for expansion of wireless infrastructure.
The result of these investments is a focus on tools and applications that increase productivity and reduce errors. Computer Physician Order Entry (CPOE) and Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) are just two examples of how complex, secure wireless systems must be tied closely to the IT infrastructure.
To support new applications, the wireless infrastructure has to offer industry-leading reliability, security, availability, and manageability. Security is critical. The U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accounting Act (HIPAA) strictly regulates the protection of patient information. IT infrastructure must allow authorized users access to patient information, without the risk of the information falling into the wrong hands. In addition, doctors, nurses, and support staff also must be able to access and use medical applications as they move throughout the facility. Beyond that, with lives depending on the network, hospitals cannot afford network down time.
Standardizing to a centralized Wireless LAN (WLAN) solution enables smooth roaming across all access points, while providing a mechanism to create and enforce centralized security policies across the entire facility. With a Cisco WLAN solution, healthcare providers can easily implement Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) to provide basic data protection, and can also provide robust security specifications. The solution also allows staff to suppress the broadcast of WLAN service set identifiers (SSIDs) to prevent unauthorized users from accessing its wireless resources. Together, the security features can help maintain privacy in accordance with basic HIPAA guidelines.
To further ease management, the Cisco WLAN system provides built-in RF intelligence, where access point channels, load, and coverage areas dynamically adjust in real time, based on changing RF conditions.
Healthcare providers can expect numerous benefits from this type of network. For example, nurses can use voice over WLAN (VoWLAN) handsets to communicate with patients, their families, and other staff members. Wireless voice can dramatically improve nurses' productivity, increasing the amount of time nurses are able to remain at the patient. Many providers have deployed tablet computers with integrated healthcare software to provide mobile access to patient records, hospital pharmacy information, and ordering systems, creating a "portable office." Wireless coverage is also available to patients and visitors in common areas such as waiting rooms.
Wireless technology is an effective way to track key mobile assets and resources. For example, specialists carrying VoWLAN handsets or PDAs can be rapidly located anywhere in a healthcare facility’s campus, even in separate buildings.
With a solid, secure, reliable infrastructure in place, healthcare IT staff can begin to focus on applications that impact patient care and safety. Wireless communication devices, such as the Vocera Communications System, can make the difference. With WLAN increasing in the healthcare market, the Vocera solution is designed for the mobile worker that need to communicate instantly, real time and hands-free. Vocera incorporates the best features of existing communication technologies into one device. Using simple voice commands, Vocera instantly connects users to the people they need through a lightweight, wearable badge, thereby reducing phone tag, overhead paging, or the need to physically search for a person.
The ability of Vocera to integrate with nurse call, patient monitoring systems, and infusion pumps leverages the benefit and power of the wireless investment.
In independent studies, Vocera allowed communications to be completed five times faster using peer-to-peer communications over a wireless network vs. a hub and spoke communication model¹. When integrated with a nurse call system, Vocera reduced the overall mean time for completing a patient request by 51%. ² When used in conjunction with a telemetry alarm system, Vocera reduced response time from over nine minutes to less than one minute. ³
WLANs have proven indispensable to many healthcare providers objective of delivering outstanding patient care. The Cisco WLAN solution is the backbone on which time saving applications that improve patient care reside. Applications such as the Vocera Communication System let healthcare professionals spend less time on administrative tasks such as retrieving records, freeing up more time to spend with patients. Streamlined processes are particularly useful in high acuity areas, such as the emergency department, where rapid patient triage and care is essential.
Real-time access to people and information helps ensure that appropriate, responsive care is delivered. And the wireless voice applications allow mobile clinical staff to more easily consult with a patient's family or confer with specialists and to provide increased care at the patient's bedside.
Berbee, drawing on strategic partnerships with Cisco, IBM and Microsoft and the far-reaching experience of its hundreds of engineers, has assisted clients with a full range of technology solutions. For more information, please visit www.berbee.com or call John Uchaker at (513) 677-4119.
¹ First Consulting Group Study, http://www.vocera.com/solutions/health.aspx
² University of Maryland Case Study, http://www.vocera.com/solutions/health.aspx
³ Beaumont Telemetry HIMSS webinar, http://www.wi-fiplanet.com/columns/article.php/3629416
