Cisco Cisco Aironet 1130 AG Access Point Guía De Información
Customer Case Study
Not-for-Profit Hospital Delivers Better Patient Care with
Mobility
Mobility
Southeast Alabama Medical Center improves clinical workflow efficiency with Cisco
Mobility solutions and Intel
Mobility solutions and Intel
®
Centrino
®
processor technology.
Business Challenge
© 2008 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information.
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Southeast Alabama Medical Center (SAMC), a
longtime forward-thinking pioneer for healthcare in
the region, is a not-for-profit community health
system dedicated to improving the health and quality
of life to the residents of southeast Alabama,
southwest Georgia and the Florida Panhandle. It
operates a multi-floor facility with a 370-bed regional
referral center, serving approximately 600,000
people throughout its neighboring communities and
counties.
longtime forward-thinking pioneer for healthcare in
the region, is a not-for-profit community health
system dedicated to improving the health and quality
of life to the residents of southeast Alabama,
southwest Georgia and the Florida Panhandle. It
operates a multi-floor facility with a 370-bed regional
referral center, serving approximately 600,000
people throughout its neighboring communities and
counties.
SAMC’s previous wireless networks had been
designed to support a small set of clinical
applications, and as the health system's needs
evolved, the network could not provide the coverage
and reliability that clinicians required for VoIP
throughout the facility. In the hospital’s highly mobile
and collaborative environment, nurses and medical
staff do extensive work while in motion throughout
the facility. The campus had been created over the
years by joining multiple buildings, of varying floor
levels and many concrete walls still intact throughout,
into one large facility. This made a challenging RF
environment for voice communications which often
resulted in dropped calls while roaming throughout
the facility, poor voice quality and the inability to be
reached, because of limited coverage. As a result
SAMC was limited in their ability to deploy enhanced
Mobile Collaborative Care applications (e.g. Unified
designed to support a small set of clinical
applications, and as the health system's needs
evolved, the network could not provide the coverage
and reliability that clinicians required for VoIP
throughout the facility. In the hospital’s highly mobile
and collaborative environment, nurses and medical
staff do extensive work while in motion throughout
the facility. The campus had been created over the
years by joining multiple buildings, of varying floor
levels and many concrete walls still intact throughout,
into one large facility. This made a challenging RF
environment for voice communications which often
resulted in dropped calls while roaming throughout
the facility, poor voice quality and the inability to be
reached, because of limited coverage. As a result
SAMC was limited in their ability to deploy enhanced
Mobile Collaborative Care applications (e.g. Unified
Communications’—single number reach, presence, etc.) as well as Secure Wireless applications
(e.g. Bedside Charting and EMR) which were critical for their growth and improved patient
satisfaction.
(e.g. Bedside Charting and EMR) which were critical for their growth and improved patient
satisfaction.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
SOUTHEAST ALABAMA MEDICAL CENTER
● Industry: Healthcare
● Location: Dothan, Alabama
● Number of Employees: 2400+ (370 Beds)
● Location: Dothan, Alabama
● Number of Employees: 2400+ (370 Beds)
BUSINESS CHALLENGE
● Enhance caregivers productivity and
collaboration by accessing Unified
Communications and EMR and other medical
applications in real-time throughout the facility
Communications and EMR and other medical
applications in real-time throughout the facility
● Manage and provision multiple mobile
services cost effectively and efficiently
● Extend clinical applications and information to
mobile clinicians at same performance levels
as on the wired network
as on the wired network
SOLUTION
● Pervasive Voice-ready Cisco Unified Wireless
Network for mobile collaboration on the move,
anywhere in the facility
anywhere in the facility
● Wireless control system for integrated
security, centralized network management,
and location of rogue devices
and location of rogue devices
● Wireless infrastructure to support electronic
medical records and unified communication at
patient bedside
patient bedside
● Next generation 802.11n wireless to deliver
predictable, high-speed access for high-
bandwidth applications like medical Picture
Archiving and Communication Systems
(PACS)
bandwidth applications like medical Picture
Archiving and Communication Systems
(PACS)
RESULTS
● Patient information at the point of care
improves overall quality of care
● Unified Wireless Network provides a platform
and technology foundation to support vital
applications for bedside patient care
applications for bedside patient care
● IT Team can manage the entire hospital
network centrally and efficiently
● Increased productivity of administrative staff
resulted in higher patient satisfaction
“Wireless infrastructure was going to play a crucial role in providing true mobility throughout the
facility for our clinicians so we needed an infrastructure that was highly reliable, easy to manage,
and resilient for voice and other patient care applications,” says Scott Lapham, network engineer at
SAMC. The existing wireless infrastructure consisted of standalone access points across some
facility for our clinicians so we needed an infrastructure that was highly reliable, easy to manage,
and resilient for voice and other patient care applications,” says Scott Lapham, network engineer at
SAMC. The existing wireless infrastructure consisted of standalone access points across some