Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
CAREER EXERCISES
1.
Consider a future job position in which you are familiar
through work experience, coursework, or a study of indus-
try performance. How might you employ some of the
telecommunications and network applications described in
this chapter in this future role?
and research the positions available in the telecommunica-
tions industry, including the Internet. You might be asked
to summarize your findings for your class in a written or
verbal report.
2.
One of the many online job-search companies includes
Monster.com. Investigate one or more of these companies
CASE STUDIES
even provides videoconferencing for more effective
communication.
CHA also uses wireless VoIP handsets to allow its employ-
ees to maintain voice communications with each other and
on-site patients over its local network. Some CHA physicians
clip Vocera communications badges to their lapel so they can
speak the name of the person they want to contact, and Vocera
makes the connection. The Vocera badges use VoIP over the
local wireless network. They can also track the location of
people around the facility. The VoIP technology makes physi-
cians and staff much easier to reach.
The CHA network also saves the organization money.
Rather than needing specialists on-site at all locations, one
specialist can service all locations over the network. For
example, a radiological specialist can view and evaluate med-
ical images submitted over the network and provide an eval-
uation in minutes.
CHA's new network is much easier to administer. While it
is often estimated that organizations spend 70 percent of IS
resources supporting legacy systems and 30 percent on new
innovations, Don Peterson, CHA manager of network engi-
neering, calculates 50 percent for each for CHA. “As network
manager, what I like best about this network is that it allows
us to spend more time moving forward and less time worrying
about what's already installed,” says Peterson.
Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA) serves the residents of
Cambridge, Somerville, and Boston's Metro-North in
Massachusetts. CHA includes three hospital campuses and
more than 20 primary care and specialty practices—over
5,000 professionals in all.
Physicians' ability to access information and medical
images such as MRIs quickly and at any location within CHA
properties is essential for helping patients and saving lives.
In most of today's state-of-the-art medical facilities, medical
information and images are delivered to desktop, notebook,
and handheld PCs through local area networks, both wired
and wirelessly, using systems like CHA's Picture Archive
and Communications Systems (PACS) and Computerized
Physician Order Entry (CPOE). The most current technologies,
such as secure wireless local area networks and Voice
over IP (VoIP), provide faster communications services and
cost savings.
CHA is rapidly approaching a completely digital environ-
ment. Today, nurses and physicians take notes and write
orders on handheld and tablet PCs wirelessly connected to
the CHA local area network. CHA's three hospitals and
administrative offices are connected over a dedicated SONET
ring network. SONET is a fast, fiber optic-based network that
can handle layers of data and voice communications simul-
taneously. Medical communications require the most power-
ful of networks to transfer large amounts of high-resolution
images. CHA can make connections and receive responses in
less than one millisecond for critical applications.
CHA employs VoIP to provide voice communications
services over its data network. The VoIP network helps CHA
resolve problems that it faces with linguistics. Around Boston,
15 primary and 43 secondary languages are spoken. CHA
needs to communicate with its patients in all of these
languages. It can do so by using its VoIP system to connect
interpreters with patients and healthcare workers. CHA
Discussion Questions
1.
Why are high-performance telecommunications tech-
nologies important to the medical profession?
2.
How does CHA use VoIP to provide better service to
patients?
Critical Thinking Questions
1.
What would be the consequence of complete network fail-
ure to a medical organization like CHA? How could this be
prevented?
2.
What issues of privacy arise in the medical setting regard-
ing wireless networking?
