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Finagling Wireless Tech I

For IT departments of medical facilities, choosing a mobile cordless system can be a tremendously frustrating ordeal. While availing of mobile cordless technology in order to facilitate communications within hospital premises strikes one as a great improvement, there are essential factors to consider. First, there is the matter of knowing what particular sort of mobile technology the hospital is up for. Are there particular needs that must first be seen to? What does the hospital wish to accomplish by installing a new system?

And another: will members of the medical staff be more comfortable with a system that entails the use of a portable cordless phone unit? Or will staff efficiency be greater if they went around using a system that works via headsets?

Technology can afford astonishing connectivity but it can also leave one high and dry if it does not match the hospital’s infrastructure and culture. Identifying which one works best for the setting at hand is exceedingly crucial. Observe the operations of one’s staff, examine if a network of mobile cordless telephone units is the answer or will headsets be better? List the reasons. Then muse upon them.
Another factor to take into account is the cost of the said technology. Will the installation of a new network necessitate the demolition of the old one? This is all right if the hospital has deep pockets to support the venture and has absolutely no interest in retaining anything of the previous network. However, for those institutions trying to save their dimes and nickels however way they can, finding out how to use the new network with the existing one is infinitely the cost-effective measure to take.

Musing over such matters can stretch on for nigh a year. For instance, the Health Quest at the Vassar Brothers Medical Center finished their study and evaluation of available systems after twelve months. Only then were they able to pinpoint all possible costs that would accrue from issuing out digital devices of any kind. From mobile cordless phone systems to headsets to operation-specific devices, the team examined every minute detail until they came up with the network they ended up choosing. Through careful and meticulous planning, the installation as well as implementation of the said communications system provided no difficulty for staff members at all. By addressing possible concerns while still in the planning stages, the IT team of the hospital was able to set-up a highly effective communications system, one that did not overwhelm its network users. The plan was also financially stable. Having already anticipated the run of potential expenses, the hospital could respond accordingly and stay within the budget.

However, for most hospital network managers, the common mistake lies in thinking that such are merely short-term ventures, that after choosing a system that works, everything else will take care of itself from there on.

In all actuality, nothing could be further from the truth—than this.