Healthcare IT & Transformation

Wireless for Healthcare 1 of 3

If wireless is deployed piecemeal without an enterprise plan/design the following items may be an issue: 

• Scalability  
• Security  
• IT Operations management  
• Recurring support costs  
• Feature scope  
• Integration

Wireless is difficult and costly to re-engineer once it’s already in place.
Deploying all at once (enterprise approach) is usually the most cost effective.
Deploying piecemeal under the guidance of an enterprise plan is a good compromise if funding only comes available in smaller chunks.
 

First generation wireless infrastructures installed in hospitals were designed around coverage, and it took some iterative fiddling, and not a few unanticipated dollars, to provide good coverage as wireless applications evolved.
 

Second generation wireless infrastructure designs took into account latency, jitter and throughput in order to support wireless VoIP - resulting in another set of site surveys and a “redesign” of the infrastructure. 
 

Third generation wireless infrastructure designs will take into account capacity, so that the number of wireless devices (COWs, VoIP phones, PDAs, wireless medical devices) that can come together in an area won’t overwhelm the infrastructure.

WPAN
Wireless Personal Area Network. A computer network that wirelessly connects devices in a short range (about 30 feet), such as a mobile phone to a wireless mouse or keyboard. Bluetooth is a WPAN technology.
 

WLAN
Wireless Local Area Network. Allows a mobile user to connect to a local area network (LAN) through a wireless connection. WLANs have been deployed in airports, universities, bookstores, coffee shops, office campuses and private residences.
 

WMAN
Wireless Metropolitan Area Network. Enables broadband network access with exterior antennas that communicate with base stations that are connected to core network. Intended to span the area covered by an average to large city.
 

WWAN
Wireless Wide Area Network. Geographically separate computer networks joined through a wireless connection. A WWAN is similar to a WLAN (wireless local area network), but typically covers an entire metropolitan or nationwide area. 

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