Latest News
Updated:
04/21/2003
Is
802.11 Ready for VOIP?
5-Minute
Security Advisor - Strengthening Wireless Authentication
Catch-22
of WLANs
eWEEK
Excellence Awards: Networking Infrastructure
IEEE
Plots Speedier WLAN
Extreme
Springs Switch Surprise
Nortel
Launches WWAN-WLAN Products
Nortel
Preps 'Security Switch'
Wi-Fi
Developers Pursue Plans for More Services
How
to Fine-Tune Your VPN Strategy
Cisco
to Buy Linksys
Verizon's
Surprise Evolution
WLANs
Spur Security Questions
Verizon
Plans 2.4-Mbits/s Wireless Rollout
Study
Exposes WLAN Security Risks
Roaming
From WLAN to WAN
Wireless
Clouds Of Connectivity
WLAN:
The Four S's
Cisco
Bolsters Its WLAN Hand
Cisco
to License WLAN Technology
Telesuite
Virtual Conference Room
IBM
Connects Wireless Networks, Enterprise Systems
Ten
Steps to a Secure Wireless Network
Top
Vulnerabilities in Web Applications
Hospital
Cures WLAN Insecurity
System
Boosts WLAN Security
Wireless Networking Case Studies
1. Handheld PC units helping doctors, patients
At the Baptist Health Systems, hospital officials have addressed those concerns by acquiring new medical software that utilizes the technology of handheld computers. Baptist is one of the first healthcare systems in the nation to acquire the software.
Called TouchWorks Dictate, the software automates the most common tasks doctors perform, including taking verbal notes on patients by wirelessly sending the information to be transcribed instantly.
2. The Next Generation of CRM
"McKesson, a medical products reseller, has been using a pen-based computing system to provide reps with a catalog of the 30,000 different products it offers. Using the system, reps can process orders, check order status, determine new products a customer might be interested in, and access product information--all with a few taps of a stylus on the tablet PC screen as they walk down the hall talking to a doctor.
Reps using this system documented sales revenue increases of at least 20 percent per sales rep, and order margin improvements of 2 percent to 5 percent per order. Users also reported saving on average 10 hours per week in nonselling time by capturing information during the call on the pen-based computer."
3. Cutting the Doctors’ Cords
Washington, D.C., Medical Center Gets Wireless
Upgrades
Built in 1948, George Washington
University Hospital has seen its share of national drama.
When Reagan was shot by John Hinckley in 1981, it was the hospital where
Secret Service agents rushed the president for emergency care. This month
the hospital is abandoning the historic site in Washington's Foggy Bottom
District and is moving to a $96 million building across the street. The
facility has been planned for years and depends on technology that didn't
exist when that planning began five years ago.
The hospital was built to allow maximum use of wireless technology. Even elevator shafts are wired so that portable patient monitors can wirelessly feed into a central database the current vital statistics of a patient who is moving from one floor to another. Traditional nurses' stations are not a part of the new scheme. Nurses will now be on the move, visiting bedsides with wireless laptops that give instant access to patient information.
All patient imaging tests — MRI, X-ray, anything that creates an image — will be digitized and made available wirelessly to any member of the treatment team who has the right password to access the encrypted images. Doctors will replace paper charts with handheld computers. Physicians will be able to enter new patient stats instantly so that other members of the treatment team can see them immediately, regardless of where in the hospital they happen to be.
4. Case Study: A Hospital on the
Bleeding Edge
Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto is running a pilot program using 2.4 GHz
wireless technology to integrate voice and data functions on one network.
It could also be used to provide high-speed mobile access to hospital
data and for IP-based video conferencing. It has wheeled carts with PCs
on them that communicate over the hospital's IP network via 802.11b access
points.
It also has a pilot underway to test the viability of physicians
carrying wirelessly connected PDAs. They can use the handhelds to get
access to electronic patient records and lab results, and to place orders
for lab work, imaging and medication. One possible drawback with 2.4 GHz
is concern about interference with electronic biomedical equipment. But
those concerns have proven to be unfounded. So far they haven't found
any problems with the 2.4-GHz gear.
A 2.4-GHz network could even be used for voice. In fact, it will be, possibly
as early as June 2002. One of the attractions of 2.4 GHz is that it integrates
with wired IP/Ethernet networks and could reduce the number of different
kinds of infrastructure the hospital's informatics department would have
to support. The hospital will probably move towards the use of bar coding
to track and process each step in various kinds of transactions, from
ordering to delivering services, tests and medications. In one extreme
scenario, nurses, patients, equipment, medications - even the drawer in
which the medications are kept - would be bar coded and swiped during
the course of delivering service, and the resulting data sent over a wireless
network.
5. How Secure is Digital Hospital?
Not content to merely make healthcare history with its all-digital,
completely automated hospital, HealthSouth also hopes the Alabama facility
it will build is going to encourage all medical institutions to improve
patient care by using cutting-edge technology.
The digital hospital, a joint project between HealthSouth and Oracle,
will offer Internet access from every patient bed, electronic medical-record
databases, digital imaging instead of traditional X-rays, and a hospital-wide
wireless network that will allow portable-computer-packing medical workers
to update and access patient records from anywhere.
Wireless networks use shared radio frequencies to move data, so security concerns about this method of information transmission have always been high. The IEEE 802.11 standard - also known as Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) protocol - was meant to be a crack-proof method of securing data that was being transmitted using wireless devices by encrypting the data. But WEP has "major security flaws", according to the Internet Security, Applications, Authentication and Cryptography (ISSAC) research group at the University of California in Berkeley. A hacker just needs some easily obtained equipment to be able to intercept wireless transmissions, change the data contained in those transmissions, and access the contents of a wireless network. The group recommends that anyone who is using an 802.11 wireless network not rely on WEP for security, but instead employ other security measures to protect their wireless network.
6. Healthcare and Pharmaceutical Sales: Challenges and Solutions
Challenges:
Patient Care
· How to see more patients each day
· Fast access to medical information in emergencies
· Access to new drugs available information
· Locating and reading patient records
· Contacting patients with Clinical Lab Results
· Fast access to drug information (interactions, etc.)
· Faster Diagnosis
· Spend more time with patients and less time with paperwork
· Save time writing prescriptions and refills
· Limited access to doctors (pharmaceuticals/supplies)
· Accessing PPO plan details
Pharmaceuticals/Supplies
· Lack of current pricing information in the field
· Lack of key doctor/customer information in the field
· Slow response time to doctor/customer reported problems
· Lag time between order close and order entry
· Selling inventory that is out of stock or unknown lead times
· Difficulty moving promotional or special items
· Too many returned or refused items
· Slow invoice turnaround affecting cash flow
Home Health Care
· Lag time between work completion and customer billing
· Inaccurate or incomplete work orders
· Inability to track the status of a work order in the field
· Not enough service calls per day
· Poor response time to new sales leads
· Ineffective communication between the office and the field
· Inaccurate or incomplete paperwork
· Incorrect supplies or replacement parts ordered
· Driving Directions/Maps
Solutions:
Patient Care
· Appointment Scheduling
· Patient Scheduling
· Drug Information Databases
· Patient Clinical Records
· New Drug Information
· Expedite Emergency Response
· Prescription Information/Databases
· Normal Clinical Lab results "pushed" to patients
· Abnormal Clinical Lab Results "pushed" to physicians
· Drugs Administered or Items Used & Delivered Reports
· Clinical Trials/Test Results Data Gathering
· Report Patient Status
· Medical Databases
· Physician Specialist Locator
· Criteria Alerting
· E-mail Access
Pharmaceuticals/Supplies
· Supplies/Parts Ordering
· Customer/Doctor Information
· New Drug Information
· Vendor Information
· Inventory/Stock Status
· Instant Messaging
· Pricing Information
· Order Entry/Processing
· Sales Lead Processing/Messaging
Home Health Care
· Patient Reporting Services
· Driving Directions/Maps
· Invoicing
· Work Order Processing
· Appointment Scheduling
· Financial Activities
· Job Status
· Field Technician Location
7. The Wireless Hospital
Hospitals around the world are taking advantage of the mobility, flexibility
and speed of wireless LAN-based mobile computing technologies to improve
the quality and reduce the cost of patient care. Caregivers can now leverage
information at the bedside or point-of-care to both make decisions and
take actions with greater accuracy and efficiency.
In these environments, users can move freely in the hospital without the constraints usually associated with a wired network. Personnel can move from room to room without having to return to a fixed station to input or check information. Hospital staff has real-time access to information. And because wireless LANs can be installed significantly faster than a wired LAN, they allow unprecedented flexibility and responsiveness to organizational needs and changes.
Just one wireless LAN investment supports a wide range of mobile computing and communications such as hand-held computers and terminals, third-party products such as laptop and desktop PCs, and even wireless LAN pagers and phones. Combined voice and data communications through breakthrough Voice-Over-IP technology not only reduces the initial investment in the system, but also reduces ongoing operating expenses hospital-wide.
Wireless LANs offer unprecedented responsiveness to an organization's needs. Compared with the long process of wiring a building for networking capabilities, a wireless network can be operational in just over an hour, providing additional coverage immediately. Whether the wireless LAN installation is permanent or temporary, it enables care providers to immediately perform clinical documentation and access patient information, clinical protocols or drug references.
Wireless LANs and mobile computers facilitate a level of interactivity at the bedside not possible with paper charts. No longer must nurses walk back to their station to enter patient information into the computer system. Instead, range checking on data entry for an intake or output measurement takes place directly at the bedside. The wireless LAN-based system can immediately alert the care provider to gather additional information or to confirm or reevaluate the information they collected because it is out of range. This can save time and, more importantly, eliminate significant documentation errors.
Information technology's role in enhancing documentation for defense of a legal action is significant. For example, malpractice insurance companies are increasingly offering discounts to physicians who use computerized medical records in their practice to document patient encounters. Based on wireless LANs to allow real-time chart access and updates, they provide documentation to insurance companies that there have been checks for drug interactions or verification that certain criteria were evaluated under high-risk medical conditions.
Whether admitted to the hospital through the emergency department, from home, directly from a physician's office with orders, or from another hospital, wireless LANs allow admitting and assessment information to be taken at bedside. Not only is the patient more comfortable, but the information is instantly available to all clinical departments.
As a patient moves through the care process, a wireless LAN allows care providers to immediately document the patient's change in status and location. Requests for transfers are accomplished instantly, eliminating potential patient coordination mistakes because all clinical departments have access to a patient's status and whereabouts in real-time.
At the end of the hospital stay, patients may be discharged directly from their room, eliminating the need to make another stop prior to leaving the hospital and increasing convenience for patients that are not ambulatory.
Medication administration process improvements are increasingly being implemented to reduce liability and improve operational efficiency. Wireless LANs and mobile computing devices can help to ensure that a licensed care provider gives the right medication to the right patient, at the right time, in the right dosage and strength.
Many healthcare organizations are using automated unit dosing and tracking supported by drug wholesalers that are repackaging dosage forms with bar codes. Immediately prior to administering the medication the unit dose bar code is scanned, the patient's bracelet is scanned, and the care provider's identification tag is scanned. The patient's medication profile is immediately checked over a wireless LAN to ensure that the medication has been approved for administration. In addition, it simultaneously checks for any adverse drug events. In the process of scanning bar codes for three-way-match, a detailed documentation of the medication administration event has automatically taken place.
A wireless LAN allows the nurse or pharmacist to be directly connected to the pharmacy system from a patient's room to make therapeutic substitutions changes in dosage, or check interactions on-line. Potential drug interactions/contraindications can be managed instantly allowing medications to be released more quickly from the pharmacy.