Hospitals are moving to electronic record-keeping, mobile platforms for doctors and nurses (such as iPads and other portable devices), and IP-based video applications. The upgrade has increased the demand for new Wi-Fi access points, as well as security software. Today Ruckus Wireless announced that 15 hospitals and clinics in the US and abroad have decided to purchase the ZoneFlex product: Eastern Long Island Hospital (NY), Martin Memorial Health Systems (FL), Grove Hill Medical (CT), East Orange General Hospital (NJ), Gaston County Medical Center (NC), South Florida Multi-Specialty (FL), Pawnee County Memorial (NE), Satilla Regional Medical Center (GA), Centre Hospitalier de Meaux (France), Chadron Community Hospital & Health , CEI Community Mental Health, Seven Hills Hospital (India), Surgery Center of Decatur (SD), Premier Medical Corporation and Hospedia (UK).
In addition, although many hospitals have had Wi-Fi networks for years, they are finally moving to the 802.11n standard. See the short case studies below from Ruckus Wireless:
Grove Hill Medical Moves to 802.11n
For example, Grove Hill Medical Center, located in central Connecticut, recently replaced a problematic 3Com wireless network with Ruckus Smart Wi-Fi. The outpatient center, comprising multiple specialty clinics in nine buildings, is now delivering flawless wireless broadband access, enabling doctors to transmit patient diagnoses, lab test orders and prescriptions, and allowing nurses to upload patients’ vital information and other status updates – all over handheld devices or tablet PCs. The medical center also transmits a high volume of radiology diagnostic imaging over the wireless network.
“We have numerous magnetic devices in our various clinics that posed tremendous problems for our previous 3Com network,” said Carl Labbadia, IT director at Grove Hill. “Our doctors constantly complained about dropped connections, and no matter how many APs we threw at the problem, it didn’t get better. With our new Wi-Fi system that is able to continually focus and steer signals in the optimal directions, complaints have effectively dropped to zero – allowing our IT staff to be more creative in exploring cutting applications that we are now confident to take wireless.”
Grove Hill is the largest privately-held medical center in New England. Started in 1947, the multi-specialty clinic has 500 employees, including 70 physicians. To blanket its nine separate locations with Wi-Fi, including the main building – a 100,000-square-foot two-story building – Grove Hill purchased 50 dual-band indoor 802.11n ZoneFlex 7962 access points (APs) and one ZoneDirector 3000 for centralized management.
East Orange Gets Better with Dynamic Beamforming
Another hospital that recently made the switch to smarter Wi-Fi is East Orange General Hospital in New Jersey. According to Jean Zahore, IT director, the need for better Wi-Fi stemmed from the hospital’s plan to cover its four separate buildings with reliable Wi-Fi connectivity, to support doctors and nurses as well as provide broadband access to patients and guests.
East Orange is a 211-bed facility with close to 1,100 employees. The hospital previously had a limited Wi-Fi network made up of Cisco APs. “The previous network was used solely to provide wireless access to the nursing stations,” Zahore said. “Now that we’re implementing electronic health records, and because we want our patients to be able to use the network for personal use, we wanted to cover the entire center with reliable Wi-Fi – but at a cost that wouldn’t break our budget.” Zahore said that he evaluated systems from Cisco, Aruba, Trapeze and Ruckus, and ultimately chose Ruckus because of the tremendous cost/performance advantages it offers.
“We chose Ruckus for several reasons, but the main factor in our decision was the fact that we could use far fewer APs, at a much lower cost, and still get better coverage of the whole facility,” he said. Zahore also noted that the Ruckus ZoneDirector controller for centralized network management was more advanced yet easier to use than those from other vendors.
East Orange has deployed 115 802.11n ZoneFlex 7962 APs and 2 ZoneDirector 3000s. They are also taking advantage of Ruckus’ Smart Mesh technology to provide Wi-Fi coverage in the elevators, where fiber is unavailable.
“A reliable wireless network is a huge advantage to us in delivering better, faster more cost-effective healthcare services,” said Zahore. It not only helps our medical staff operate more efficiently, but it’s also an appealing feature for patients, who can access the Internet and email when they’re here.”
Can anyone please tell me what the power restrictions are for Wi-Fi in a hospital setting? The UK max is 100mW, is this power reduced because of the sensitivity of hospital equipment? Thanks, Paul.
No, the UK Max of 100mW applies everywhere and has nothing to do with hospitals. 100mW is the same limit in other European countries. It is set by the regulator (the equivalent of the FCC in European countries).