Wireless Networks Allow Unprecedented Response Time - Holy Name Hospital/ Spectrum24, Symbol's open-architecture wireless network - Product Information

Health Management Technology, May, 1999

Creative Solutions to Healthcare Information Challenges

"What Works" is a regular feature of HEALTH MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGY. It highlights creative solutions to a variety of healthcare information challenges. Articles are based on material submitted by healthcare IS professionals or other managers. To submit your solution, you can use an electronic version of the form available on the HEALTH MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGY Web site (www.healthmgttech.com) or via e-mail request to: suzanne@healthmgtech.com

SOURCE:

Paul Garrin
Vice President, Information Systems and CIO
Holy Name Hospital
718 Teaneck Road
Teaneck, NJ 07666
E-mail: garrin@mail.holyname.org
URL: www.holyname.org

PROBLEM:

Holy Name Hospital is a fully accredited, voluntary, nonprofit community hospital located in suburban Teaneck, N.J. Founded and sponsored by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace in 1925, the hospital has grown to become a modern 361 bed comprehensive community hospital offering patients the most modern medical technology coupled with its standing tradition of offering care with compassion and respect.

However, there was a need to get patient information to and from the nursing staff quicker. In terms of the operating rooms, a wireless network was more feasible than punching holes in walls to run wires. Also, we were not comfortable with the idea of keeping wired computers in patient rooms. So the main issues were security and caregiver convenience.

SOLUTION:

Spectrum24, Symbol's open-architecture wireless network, provides reliable high-performance data and voice-over-IP communications with excellent immunity to interference through its frequency-hopping technology. It is designed to support the IEEE 802.11 wireless LAN standard. Operating in the 2.4 GHz band using spread-spectrum modulation, this network allows fast, seamless roaming with load balancing among cells. Its capacity and range are expandable through the use of multiple access points.

INSTALLATION:

Holy Name Hospital began implementing the solution approximately nine months ago, beginning with the Operating Room and Emergency Room. They are currently implementing the technology hospital-wide and plan to complete the implementation by the end of this year.

COMPONENTS:

Hardware: Fifteen IBM ThinkPads laptops mounted on Tremont carts with 16 hours of battery life on the carts plus 2 hours on the laptops. Fujitsu 510 tablet computers with 4 hours of battery life, with ProLogix carts developed specifically for the hospital. We have plans to use up to 50 tablet computers with medication trays that plug right in to the carts.

Software: An inhouse-developed hospital information system that can access patient information, medications patient labs, etc.

Networks: Symbol's Spectrum24 wireless LAN

Consultants: None. Our own IS stall installed the system.

Training: No training involved. It uses the same interfaces as the wired terminal.

COST, COST JUSTIFICATION:

Wireless terminals were under $3,000 each. The carts ranged from $800 to $900 each and the network interface cards are about $500 each.

BENEFITS:

Patient Care: We met the need to add more workstations to improve patient care. The Wireless LANs also allow an unprecedented response time to an organization's needs. Compared with the month-long process of wiring a building for networking capabilities, a wireless network can be operational in just about an hour, providing additional coverage immediately.

Productivity: Using Symbol's Spectrum24 wireless LAN has greatly improved the hospital's access to data. It has provided caregivers with the freedom and mobility to gather information in real-time directly from the point of care, including a patient's bedside.

NEXT STEPS:

The Hospital is currently implementing the technology hospitalwide and plans to complete the implementation by the end of this year.

ENHANCEMENTS:

In the operating room, physicians using the wireless system can use a paging application integrated into the hospital's information system. Doctors can send out pages right from the OR to anyone they need. For example, the doctor can page an anesthesiologist when the doctor is ready for the anesthesiologist in the OR. In the emergency room we can register patients at bedside the moment they arrive so the doctor can order a lab immediately.

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