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Article Excerpt
Critical information at the point of care is a compelling reason for health-care providers to utilize wireless networks, but safety and security issues often stand in the way. Although patient privacy is still a sensitive issue, new breakthroughs in security promise no break-ins to confidential data.
Wireless networks are being deployed in increasing numbers because they solve problems for both IT managers and users of mobile devices. According to Gartner, Inc., enterprises and organizations have embraced this technology because of the benefits of roaming as well as the widespread use of mobile PCs. Over 15 million laptops with wireless support will be shipped in 2005, up from 2.9 million in 2001. Health-care organizations are one of the most active early adopters of this technology, with Frost & Sullivan forecasting that wireless health-care revenues will reach $395 million by 2005 (double the current level).
A March 2002 Gartner, Inc., study, entitled, "Bedside Wireless Access Increases Hospital Efficiency," suggests why this is the case:
Mobile solutions, based on WLAN access and PDAs, may improve medical operators' access to relevant information from wards, reducing delays and the cost of activities related to patient care. These solutions are easily deployed and adopted by medical operators and have increased value if they are conceived as a mobile extension of applications that share a common repository of hospital data.
Jon Bogen, managing principal of HealthCIO, Inc., concurs. "I don't think it's hard to demonstrate the business case for installing wireless," says Bogen. "It pays for itself quickly, improves patient care, increases information-capture efficiency, and more." The nature of health care, based around mobile professionals, means that building out a wired infrastructure sufficient to place a stationary computer at every location where it's needed is too daunting a task.
Improvement of Patient Care
Dr. John Halamka keeps doctors on the move. As associate dean of Harvard Medical School and CIO of CareGroup Healthcare Systems, Halamka has physicians moving through the six hospitals and scores of departments that he oversees. Wireless networking has become a key part of the information infrastructure for...
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