Healthcare Facilities Adopt Framework for Wireless Technology
Six healthcare organizations implemented a new framework that will make it easier to fully adopt and utilize wireless technology in hospitals, according to the West Wireless Health Institute, a San Diego, CA, medical research organization.
Wireless technology has the potential to lower costs and improve patient safety, but limited coverage and bandwidth hampers its full potential, the institute says, adding that its framework effectively turns wireless into a common utility, such as electricity and plumbing.
The six hospitals are members of a coalition called the West Wireless Health Council.
They are: Children's Hospital Los Angeles, El Camino Hospital in Mountain View, CA, HealthAlliance Hospital, a member of UMass Memorial Health Care, in Leominster, MA, Platte Valley Medical Center in Brighton, CO, Virginia Commonwealth University Health System in Richmond, VA, and Cook Children's Health Care System in Fort Worth, TX.
"Using best practices across the industry, the council developed a reference architecture that enables a wireless infrastructure to be incorporated into any hospital or healthcare system, much like electricity, plumbing, heating or air condition," the institute says.
Some institutions, such as Scripps Health in San Diego, CA, are in the process of deploying the architecture, which the institute says is available for free.
For more information on the framework and the council, click here.