Wi-Fi Enabled Healthcare
As the wireless standards evolved from 802.llb to 802.11n, and mobile devices grew from a handful of Microsoft PDA’s to thousands of IOS clients, so have our ops manuals. The one constant we have seen is that dependency and mission criticality of the wireless network is growing with no signs of slowing down. With this in mind, the team wanted to share experiences and lessons learned, and provide a guide that we could have made use of when we first embarked on our wireless journey in one of the largest healthcare systems in the country.
Different organizations and departments within the hospital often mandate the wireless medical devices to purchase. In order to avoid a chaotic situation, they must be required to utilize risk management techniques and to thoroughly test each and every device that is being proposed for deployment on the Wi-Fi network. If any of the devices cannot meet minimal security requirements, they need to be identified. The shared experience and lessons learned from the authors provide essential guidance for large and small healthcare organizations in the United States and globally.
