WiFi networks are critical resources for healthcare facilities. Institutions depend on them to improve patient outcomes and the overall patient experience. However, these benefits are only possible if facilities have reliable networks and real-time, insightful WiFi analytics. This article gives a detailed look at why this is true and how facilities can improve their WiFi networks.
WiFi networks are the backbone of healthcare institutions
WiFi technology is an integral part of patient care. It is used across all departments in numerous ways. This includes:
Patient Monitoring – Remote and Onsite
Medical IoT devices are used to continuously monitor everything from heart rate and blood pressure to temperature and glucose levels. These devices can be used both while patients are in a facility, and can also remotely transmit data from a patient’s home.
Devices might be small wearables or larger, like smart beds that can monitor up to 35 data points and electronically update patient medical records.
Patient Finances
Financial departments use WiFi networks to access patient records, payment plans, bills paid, and more.
Patient Appointments
Patients often use online portals, accessible via WiFi networks, to check-in for existing appointments, and to schedule new appointments.
Diagnostics
Healthcare professionals can send and receive patient data via the WiFi. This includes sending/receiving data-intensive packages such as imagery from CT scans and x-rays. With the use of WiFi, these results can be sent quickly to give providers the most up-to-date information.
Medical Procedures
IoT robotic devices have been used by surgeons in growing numbers. This includes an onsite surgeon using devices during surgery, an offsite surgeon using devices to perform telesurgery, and an onsite surgeon using telemonitoring to communicate with an offsite surgeon.
Provider Support
Providers need the WiFi to access patient monitoring data, and to communicate with one another.
IoT devices are also used to tag and track medical equipment like defibrillators, oxygen pumps, and wheelchairs. The IoT tags ensure that providers always know where this equipment is located.
WiFi must be reliable and optimised
With numerous WiFi-connected devices providing life-saving patient data, the WiFi network must provide reliable connectivity. There can be no lags in sending or receiving data, no dead zones, and no security issues. Instead, healthcare facilities must have WiFi assurance, which means having easy, consistent access to the analytics and insights that are needed to automatically optimise a WiFi network so that it reliably supports a facility regardless of the demands placed on it.
The importance of WiFi automation
WiFi assurance is only possible when there are no network mysteries. This requires IT professionals to have complete visibility and real-time analytics for the entire WiFi network ecosystem. This includes backend and frontend infrastructure, all connected devices, and both WiFi and non-WiFi sources of interference.
With hundreds or thousands of connected devices, plus switches, APs, servers, and more, it is not possible for IT teams to analyse network activity in real-time on their own. Instead, teams require the support of an AI-powered, automated WiFi platform.
These platforms use a combination of hardware and software to automate the proactive analysing, troubleshooting, and optimising of the network ecosystem. The proactive aspect, made possible by the use of artificial intelligence, is key. It allows IT teams to be alerted to network problems as soon as they occur. This is often before end users (patients, providers, staff, and guests) are ever affected. This allows teams to solve problems faster, supporting continuous, reliable patient care.
Three ways WiFi automation and analytics support healthcare
Depending on the platform, hospitals that work with WiFi automation can receive:
Real-time insights to protect and promote patient care
Platforms with artificial intelligence learn to recognise normal and abnormal network behavior. They are “on” all the time, providing endless analytics and ensuring that nothing on the network goes unnoticed. They can provide:
- Real-time insights from nonstop network ecosystem analytics
- Real-time, automatic issue identification and notification
- Actionable resolutions and root cause identification with every issue alert
- Automated, remote troubleshooting
By updating IT in real-time, and supporting anytime/anywhere troubleshooting, these platforms help minimise the number of issues on a network and reduce resolution times. This creates a network that always supports patient initiatives.
Proactive testing to improve the user experience and reduce issues
Scheduled, proactive network testing is the most effective way to test the network. This is because networks are dynamic. They constantly change as devices connect and disconnect, as infrastructure degrades, and as updates are pushed out. Staying ahead of changes is necessary for WiFi assurance.
IT professionals have many responsibilities. Adding on tasks to manually test the network all day long – some tests should be run as often as every 15 minutes – significantly reduces the time professionals have to spend on other responsibilities. WiFi automation platforms allow teams to perform the testing that healthcare facilities need while restoring time for all other duties.
Future-proofed optimisation for continuous, reliable WiFi
Real-time analytics are necessary for maintaining optimal performance, but historical analytics are just as important. These analytics reveal long-term performance and behavior trends that might not be noticeable in real-time. For example, hospital APs may slowly degrade for some time before they fall below baseline performance and trigger real-time alerts; network utilisation can change over time; and network performance might be impacted by device/infrastructure upgrades. With historical analytics, IT and all administrators are aware of these trends and others before problems occur. This allows decision-makers to design the most effective and budget-friendly upgrade plans.
WiFi automation platforms also support future-proofing because they easily scale. No matter how institutions grow, platforms are still there, able to analyse 500 devices as easily as 50,000.
Supporting healthcare now and in the future
A non-optimised network is an unreliable network. With patient lives sometimes depending on WiFi-connected devices, unreliable performance is unacceptable. Facilities can use proactive, AI-powered WiFi automation platforms to future-proof networks, reducing WiFi issues and resolution times, and locking in optimal performance.
