Healthcare organizations have always faced a major challenge when it comes to network optimization. After all, having a fine-tuned network is crucial because healthcare providers demand constant connectivity – if doctors and nurses don’t always have access to the information they need, right when they need it, patients’ lives could be in jeopardy.
The network challenge in healthcare has never been greater than it is right now. In medicine today, caregivers regularly use a wide range of connected devices and sensors for monitoring, diagnosing, and treating patients. It’s not uncommon for a single room in a hospital to have 20 or more devices all trying to connect to Wi-Fi. All these extra devices place a great deal of strain on healthcare organizations’ networks.
HIT Infrastructure has reported that unfortunately, many organizations are struggling because they don’t have the right networks in place to manage all the extra traffic. Sherri Douville is CEO of Medigram, a company that works with medical organizations on managing mobile technology, and she explained that mobile has actually made life harder for many providers.
“There is no such thing as perfect connectivity,” Douville said. “Consumer smartphones were never designed for an industrial environment, and there’s nothing you can do to fix your network to close that gap.”
Many organizations are discovering that making small network tweaks to accommodate floods of new traffic isn’t going to work – what they really need is to build an entirely new infrastructure, one that’s designed with modern networking needs in time. This is always a challenge, and particularly so in healthcare, where there are all sorts of unique challenges ranging from administrative red tape to HIPAA compliance to the nuances in the patient and guest experience. Given all of this, it should come as no surprise that many organizations look for a business partner they can trust before they get started.
“Upgrading a wireless environment is always difficult and it’s always risky, especially in an environment like a hospital where you can’t support downtime,” said Dean Shold, Medigram’s VP of technology. “The more you can work with a vendor earlier on, the better. It’s really building that level of strategic relationship with whoever the vendor you’re choosing.”
At Zones, we can be the networking partner you’re looking for. We bring a holistic approach to the process – we begin with a detailed assessment of your current connectivity environment, and we transition from there into a full-blown Network Design & Implementation undertaking, tailoring the perfect solution to meet your needs.
Nowadays, the challenge of networking in healthcare is one of staying up to speed in an anytime, any device world. We deliver solutions that are up to that challenge. Implement them, and the results will follow – improved performance, enhanced employee productivity, and greater organizational loyalty. What’s not to like?
In healthcare, success always comes down to Network Optimization. Check out the services we can offer you, and you won’t regret it.
