Cisco Cisco Wireless Control System Version 4.0 Ficha De Dados
Customer Case Study
All contents are Copyright © 1992–2007 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
Page 1 of 4
Networked Infusion Pumps Improve Patient Safety
NorthEast Medical Center deploys a Cisco Unified Wireless Network to support its
deployment of networked infusion pumps.
Business Challenge
NorthEast Medical Center is a regional, 457-bed,
nonprofit medical center located northeast of
Charlotte, North Carolina. Its main campus contains
the new Jeff Gordon Children’s Hospital, which
includes a cutting-edge pediatric/neonatal intensive
care unit as well as a renowned children’s advocacy
center. Besides its national reputation for a talented
medical staff that provides compassionate care,
NorthEast is known for keeping up-to-date on
advanced technology.
In mid-2006 the hospital acquired an inventory
of 600 infusion pumps, expensive devices that
intravenously deliver nutrients and medication to
patients. Known as “smart pumps,” they enable the
medical staff to program the correct medication
dose and the correct time of delivery, greatly
reducing manual error. These pumps are mobile,
and without a tracking system, they got lost easily.
“We’d have to walk around and find them,” says
Susan Wilfong, director of technical services for
information systems at the hospital. This would
result in unnecessary expense, because the hourly
service fees the hospital paid to maintain the pumps
would often include the time needed to locate them.
The hospital IT staff decided to remedy the situation by connecting the pumps to a wireless
LAN and tracking them with location-based services, a system that would allow the pumps to be
monitored from a central management console. Furthermore, the medical staff wanted the ability
to administer drug libraries in the pumps remotely.
Meanwhile, hospital administrators wanted to provide Internet access to patients and guests
without compromising the security of the corporate network, which the medical staff utilized to
both send and access confidential patient data on the corporate network.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
NORTHEAST MEDICAL CENTER
●
Healthcare
●
Concord, North Carolina
●
Number of Employees: 4200
BUSINESS CHALLENGE
●
Track and control medication infusion
pumps over the wireless network
●
Provide ubiquitous wireless network access
to medical staff
●
Computerized dispensing of
medicine improves patient safety
●
Offer superior wireless voice over IP
NETWORK SOLUTION
●
Upgraded wireless LAN to a Cisco Unified
Wireless Network, part of the Cisco Medical-
Grade Network infrastructure
Grade Network infrastructure
●
Expanded wireless coverage to the
entire hospital
●
Connected the hospital’s infusion pumps to the
network
●
Readied the network for advanced wireless
voice and location-based services
BUSINESS RESULTS
●
Centralized management of access points
saves time for the IT staff
●
Ability to locate networked assets saves
time for the medical staff
●
Computerized dispensing of medicine
improves patient safety
●
Guest Internet access improves
patient experience