LONDON, UK - (HealthTech Wire / Opinion by Dominic List) - As the UK population continues to grow and age it is placing increasing demand on the healthcare sector. In a bid to relieve some of the strain, the government is encouraging the development of a digital NHS. While medical equipment and the delivery of treatment have been revolutionised by technology, healthcare IT infrastructure has still largely to catch up. But the few healthcare providers that are truly embracing technology and supporting innovation are already reaping the rewards, delivering better front-line care with fewer resources and lower costs.
Next generation Wi-Fi that supports advanced applications is changing the way the healthcare sector operates. From aiding compliance (such as to the government‘s recommendation that infrared technology to protect staff is no longer fit for purpose), to facilitating diagnosis and making delivery and management of treatment more efficient, the use of wireless technology looks set to become mainstream in healthcare.
Workflow management
Diagnostic processes that relied on pen-and-paper methods in the past have now, thanks to wireless, migrated to workflow management tools traditionally designed for the logistics or transport sectors. Where patient observations used to take place with a clipboard and tick box (with data typed into a management system on a weekly basis), they are now recorded and delivered in real time. The forms sit on a healthcare smart device and observers input data into the device. Data is then transported across a secure Wi-Fi infrastructure, affording specialists immediate access to information that they can use to adjust the pathway of care programmes. The end result is better patient care and a major time saving for staff.
The use of mobile devices has filtered into e-prescribing, which is becoming increasingly popular, with digital prescription helping healthcare staff to be more diligent about drug delivery. In one project we are working on, the devices themselves have a 2-D barcode that can hold up to four pages of information. The patient record is linked to a barcode, scanned, and transferred wirelessly, so that healthcare providers know at any given time, who the patient is, and exactly what treatment they require. Even more advanced technologies can help pinpoint the precise location of the medication in a store room, so the care team can simply scan the barcode on the patient record, find the drug and scan its barcode on delivery, with the whole process efficiently time stamped.
Wi-Fi is becoming increasingly popular as a means to improving process management in the healthcare sector, with many healthcare trusts tagging hardware such as portable MRI scanners and wheelchairs. Equipment or a piece of hardware can then be indexed so that if a practitioner needs it, the device will inform them of the location of the nearest available one.
Safety and security
Staff safety is also being advanced by Wi-Fi: wireless panic alarm systems enable the patient to sound the alarm (the device that sits on the wall is a small battery-controlled button with a radio inside it) and a message will go out over the network, informing practitioners that the staff member is in danger or needs assistance.
Safety of personnel is imperative, with Wi-Fi now becoming the preferred option for CCTV delivery in emergency rooms. Areas with no cabling for a network could employ wireless CCTV cameras, which offer the benefit of being controlled from a single console, can be set up quickly and use a single infrastructure and the same network as PCs and phones. Not only is this cost effective to manage (if a control room goes down you can monitor from another location), it is also efficient in terms of data storage — it doesn’t require tapes, only a network storage device, which is of course invaluable for forensic investigations.
Undoubtedly, data security is paramount in the healthcare sector, and Wi-Fi networks can be incredibly robust when it comes to meeting this requirement. With more mobile devices being used in hospitals, for example, hard drives on all laptops can (and should) now be encrypted, so that if any data were to leave the site, hard drives can be remotely overwritten. To add a further layer of security, NHS trusts can limit the ability to take data away from a network, by protecting all removable devices such as USB sticks or DVDs. The result is that practitioners and admin staff can only use USB sticks that are on the ‘safe list’ and have been issued by the hospital itself. This protects sensitive data from theft or misuse, and protects the trust from the negative publicity and legal issues that tend to accompany such incidents.
In my experience, many healthcare organisations that have invested in wireless technology have yet to realise the full power of the commodity they have at their disposal. By making better use of the existing wireless infrastructure, unprecedented productivity gains and improvements in levels of care can be realised, ensuring that healthcare facilities deliver the level of service that patients deserve while ensuring staff are protected.
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Source: Comtact
Dominic List is CEO of Comtact
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