Wireless's Big Role In The Hospital Of The Future

By Bob Friday, Mist

Hospitals can be very intimidating places. The barrage of people, equipment, sounds and even smells can compound the stress associated with any visit – from a traumatic injury to a blessed event like a child birth.

It is no surprise, therefore, that healthcare centers are working hard to make the patient experience more pleasant. For one, they are taking cues from hotels and theme parks to make the outward facing portion of the hospital more friendly and “home-like”. For example, daunting medical equipment is being increasingly moved behind the scenes to avoid attention, and new services like yoga and meditation are being added to clinical facilities to lower stress. In addition, hospitals are turning to new technologies to personalize the patient experience, making the entire visit easier and more seamless – from the moment you park your car through final discharge.

For a large hospital in the Southern United States, the Wireless LAN (WLAN) was the key to enabling better patient experiences. Besides providing more predictable and reliable Wi-Fi to guests, the facility wanted to help patients check in from their phones upon arrival and then easily navigate around their 1.2 million-square-foot facility with turn-by-turn directions. It also wanted to use the network to inform patients about the dates, times and locations of various health programs, such as smoking cessation classes, suicide prevention and the availability and location of flu shots.

Hospital leaders looked at traditional Real Time Location Services (RTLS) location technologies based on ultrasound, infrared and earth’s magnetic fields, but found Bluetooth LE (BLE) beacon technology the clear answer because of its accuracy and the fact that Apple and Google have standardized on the technology in their mobile devices. They also were impressed by new technology that virtualizes BLE beacons, enabling indoor location to be deployed and scaled without battery powered beacons or manual site calibration.

Artificial Intelligence also proved key to the hospital’s new wireless network initiatives. Machine learning in the cloud delivers location estimates with 1- to 3-meter accuracy and sub-second latency, making location-based applications like wayfinding and proximity notifications reliable and cost effective. In addition, AI is used to analyze wireless user behavior and detect trends so Wi-Fi issues are proactively found and addressed before patients and guests even know they exist. Finally, an AI-driven assistant makes it easy to query the wireless system and rapidly resolve problems when they arise, saving the hospital’s IT department valuable time and money.

The hospital above is not alone, as more facilities are increasingly focusing on the wireless network as a key enabler for new patient experiences and better operations. For example:

• Mission Health is using their BLE wireless network to locate over 9,000 devices equipped with RTLS tags. This provides a wide range of functions to the hospital, from real-time condition monitoring to asset location to infant security.

• Japan’s Nagoya University Hospital is testing a new system that uses BLE to capture patients' vital signs and locations, as well as log staff members’ movements. With the latter functionality, the hospital hopes to get a better handle on when, how often and under what circumstances staff members spend with patients.

• The University Hospital of Lausanne in Switzerland has implemented an application that uses wireless beacon technology to send a patient’s location and data to a doctor’s phone when there is an emergency, saving precious time.

• The Jewish Hospital – Mercy Health in Cincinnati has installed beacons that can communicate with patients’ and visitors’ smart phones and help them navigate the facility.

It’s exciting to think about how wireless technology will augment the hospital experience of the future. We are just at the cusp of what is possible, but like all AI-driven technologies things are moving very fast and the results are already very promising!

About The Author

Bob Friday is co-founder and chief technology officer of Mist, when develops self-learning wireless networks using artificial intelligence.