AAMI Task Force to Tackle Wireless Challenges, Solutions

Not performing routine maintenance and underestimating the potential risk for patient harm are just two of the mistakes healthcare providers make when moving to wireless technology. To help them avoid these and other mistakes, a new AAMI task force is preparing for a March meeting in Herndon, VA, at which members will flesh out recommendations made at 2012 workshop on wireless challenges in healthcare.

The  task force brings together about two dozen representatives from medical device companies, hospitals, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and organizations that focus on wireless issues. It will be the task force’s first meeting, and members hope to determine which wireless priorities should be addressed and by whom. 

The idea for the task force sprang from AAMI’s 2012 Wireless Workshop, which took place last October 2012. The 75 workshop attendees developed a list of priority issues that revolved around five themes:

• Clarifying roles and responsibilities
• Managing the spectrum to improve safety and security
• Designing the wireless infrastructure for high reliability
• Learning from other industries
• Managing risk and preventing failure

Task force members plan to review these recommendations and map out next steps. “All the hard work undertaken at the Wireless Workshop will be incredibly helpful to the task force and will be the heart of the discussion in March,” says Robert Stiefel, a clinical engineer and a former member of the AAMI Board of Directors, who will manage and coordinate the task force.

Highlights from the Wireless Workshop can be found in a new report, titled Healthcare Technology in a Wireless World, at www.aami.org/publications/summits.

If you have questions or comments about the wireless task force, please contact Stiefel at robsti@verizon.net.

AAMI, the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation, is a nonprofit organization founded in 1967. It is a diverse community of nearly 7,000 healthcare technology professionals united by one important mission—supporting the healthcare community in the development, management, and use of safe and effective medical technology.