Hospital wireless networks enable fast physician response

Health IT still may be slow to catch on, but rare is the hospital today that doesn't have broad wireless infrastructure to enable the use of mobile devices, give Internet access to patients and visitors and boost network capacity without running more wires.

New York University Langone Medical Center recently started implementation of an Epic Systems EMR at one of its facilities. CIO Dr. Paul Conocenti chose Epic because it allows for tight integration of clinical data in multiple care settings. "Now we are creating mobility around that connectiveness and that's where wireless technologies really come in," Conocenti tells CMIO magazine. A unified communication platform helps with triage by using wireless devices to locate the nearest caregivers in the event of an emergency or code call.

Similarly, Ball Memorial Hospital in Muncie, Ind., is able to deliver clinical alerts to physicians via text message in 20 seconds or less, so doctors can respond to patients in need almost immediately, no matter where they are in the 1.2 million-square-foot hospital.

For more information about hospital wireless infrastructure:
- check out this CMIO feature

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