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CONNECTIVITY
The Internet of
Healthcare Things
By Neal Humphrey, Account
Manager, Alcatel Lucent
Enterprise UK
A secure network for the healthcare
environment? Neal Humphrey
examines the challenges.
Introduction
Like many industries and organisations, healthcare
providers are undergoing major changes in service
delivery. At the root of this change is technology connected hospitals can free up staff time, which
means more attention for patients and a better
quality of care. A Mind Commerce report predicts
the healthcare Internet of Things (IoT) market is set
to hit £80 billion by 2020 and, if the market is to be
believed, this is just the tip of the iceberg.
We have seen rapid growth in devices intended
for both clinical and patient use. Mobile technology
is now a key part of the medical professional’s
‘tool kit’, with doctors expecting to access medical
apps on their smartphone or tablet to view X-rays,
ultrasound images or live patient data while on the
move. Encouraged by the BYOD trend, wireless device
growth now far outstrips that of wired devices. The
ever-present tablet, with high quality imaging, is
assuming a key role in the healthcare environment.
In the dedicated healthcare role devices such as
CT scanners and processes (including radiological
imaging) now feed constant streams of metrics
directly into the network to improve patient care and
workflow.
Equally, we have seen rapid growth in patient
and visitor device usage, with smartphones and
tablets adding extra strain to healthcare IT networks.
Patients and guests now expect to be able to
connect their phones and tablets to the network,
so large amounts of data has to be made available
to different audiences with different priorities while
meeting strict regulatory and compliance standards.
This is placing huge burdens on IT departments
managing healthcare networks.
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