Watertown,
New York ----- Patients in Samaritan Medical Center’s Emergency
Department are now benefiting from even safer care through the use of
an innovative new patient monitoring system that has been deployed at
the hospital. Patients requiring x-rays and other services can
now be transported from the Emergency Department to the Radiology
Department without disconnecting from Samaritan’s computer-based
patient vital sign monitoring system.
This new system utilizes a secure wireless networking protocol, as well
as an advanced Quality of Service (QoS) solution called “Infinity
OneNet,” which allows patient vital signs to be prioritized and
given a dedicated portion of bandwidth within Samaritan’s
internal computer network.
Samaritan’s wireless patient monitoring system was highlighted as
a Wireless Case History in the December 2005 issue of Health Management
Technology, an internationally distributed trade magazine focusing on
the use of computer information systems in the healthcare
industry. The article, authored by Timothy Rhue, C.B.E.T., Lead
BioMedical Equipment Technician at Samaritan, and Michael Maloney,
Director of BioMedical Engineering at Samaritan, explains in technical
detail the process that Samaritan underwent in order to move from an
existing hard-wired monitoring system to the current wireless
system. The article by Mr. Rhue and Mr. Maloney is also being
used by contractor Dräger Medical on their website as a case study
showing successful deployment of their Infinity OneNet technology.
“We’re thrilled to have this system in place,”
explains Mr. Rhue. “Our bottom line goal was to improve
patient care while maximizing the use of our existing infrastructure,
and we’ve been very pleased with how well everything came
together.”
The success of the wireless patient monitoring system in increasing
patient safety at Samaritan Medical Center has led to a plan to expand
the use of the system into other areas of the hospital, starting with
the Intensive Care Unit and the Progressive Care Unit, and eventually
throughout the entire campus.
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