Prioritize a Robust Foundation for Next-Generation Point-of-Care Technology

Next-generation point-of-care engagement technologies are key to improving patient outcomes and satisfaction, but the success of such tools hinges directly on a healthcare facility’s supporting infrastructure. From network solutions and access points to storage technology, providers must ensure that a proper foundation is in place to handle the demands imposed by both patient engagement and clinical initiatives.

With the number of patient engagement and clinical mobility devices growing exponentially, a healthcare organization’s wireless infrastructure must be able to support and scale with growing demands. Every new wireless solution added increases the strain on existing network resources.

What’s more, growing data traffic from mobile devices can slow down or even block connectivity, disrupting critical daily workflow. To anticipate and meet increased network demands, many organizations conduct site surveys that help determine where to place APs, how to handle periods of increased traffic, pinpoint traffic bottlenecks and understand how to improve the overall network infrastructure for long-term stability.

Site Survey Recommendations

Key points to consider when conducting a site survey include:

• Discovering and understanding current network connection and performance issues, as well as their impact on end users
• Building out enough bandwidth for anticipated traffic needs
• Examining the host facility’s size and layout, as well as the construction materials used in exterior and interior walls (wireless signals can be degraded or blocked by brick or masonry walls, requiring the need for additional wireless APs) 
• Strategically positioning APs in locations that will maximize signal strength
• Uncovering and eliminating single points of failure (components that, upon failure, will bring down the entire network) and ensuring that rapid-convergence architectures and technologies are used across the network
• Specifying the technologies that will be used to maximize uptime for mission-critical applications, such as EHRs, image archiving and biomedical devices 
• Selecting compatible endpoint devices

After completion of the site survey, it’s time to consider how to approach network monitoring. Given the critical nature of healthcare services, it is essential to deploy an efficient and reliable monitoring solution that ensures data protection, maximum performance, immediate responsiveness and network continuity.

 A high-quality network monitoring solution also offers the ability to:

• Improve overall network reliability
• Assist with capacity planning
• Track activity trends across the network
• View the full network topology
• Streamline the troubleshooting process should issues arise

Intelligent alerting, a feature found in most high-end network monitoring solutions, ensures that key employees, including network administrators and IT staff members, are immediately notified in the event anything suspicious or out of the ordinary is discovered on the network. Intelligent alerts give organizations the opportunity to respond to and mitigate any harmful tasks being carried out before they can inflect damage to the network and network-connected resources.