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Network Infrastructure Magazine | Wednesday, September 30, 2020
Wireless networks will continue to challenge healthcare organizations as signal interference, and compatibility problems increase.
Fremont, CA: Wireless network technology in the healthcare sector has always been challenging since the time of adoption of wireless devices. In healthcare organizations, mobile and other connected medical devices are common, but these devices often present problems that cannot be overcome overnight.
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Connecting devices to the internet and ensuring that they receive the best signals seamlessly is the primary problem facing healthcare companies and will continue to face in the coming years. This is not a cheap or easy method, although the idea is clear. Within a hospital, consumer-grade technology does not work the same way it does in other environments. These problems must be recognized by companies and how to solve them as effectively as possible.
[vendor_logo_first]Phones and wired devices should not be viewed in the same way by healthcare enterprises. These devices do not operate the same. When it comes to approaching how the network is going to manage connections and how the network needs to be laid out, they need to be treated differently. Computers and smartphones are not only different kinds of ‘patients’, but it is the network that defines how well information is linked and transmitted by these devices. This interface variation and the disparity between healthcare and consumer devices can cause serious problems with communication and compliance.
Wireless networking vendors and developers need to keep in mind that hospital environments are different from the others, as developers employed in other sectors usually do not always have to take environmental determinants into account. Hospitals have a specific set of problems that make it time-consuming and challenging to build and update networks. There are different types of technology vying for the same space, and interference is generated by this variation.
MRI machines can interfere with network signals, and other networked tools may interfere with microwaves in break rooms. To ensure that they not only broadcast 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, but also rebroadcast AM frequency for pagers and LTE for mobile devices, organizations need to employ access points.
Wireless networks for healthcare enterprises are challenging and will continue to remain to do for a while, no matter how advanced they are. Investing in the network as a whole might be an expensive affair. However, introducing fast fixes that do not solve the problem will not work for healthcare companies.
See also: Top Healthcare Startups
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