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Preparing for the Front Lines of Mobile Technology

From the moment a physician walks in the front door of Miami Children's Hospital, he or she can use their own smartphone or tablet and connect to patient's electronic medical records. It's just one wireless solution that this 289-bed hospital in Miami-Dade County is using to innovate patient care and transform the hospital experience.

The hospital uses wireless technology for gaming, education and navigation apps.

Currently, more than 60% of U.S. physicians use a mobile device, according to a report from Epocrates, and the number using smartphones is increasing as technology advances and platforms like the Apple iPhone, BlackBerry Storm, and Palm Pre continue to gain popularity.

Laptops or "computers on wheels are also widely used, according to a HIMSS Analytics 2013 Mobile Technology Survey. "Wireless technology is convenient and ubiquitous, and most physicians, in particular, do not want to use different products for work and personal use, and are likely to use one product both for work and personal use," said René Y. Quashie, a senior counsel in the Health Care and Life Sciences practice at Epstein, Becker, Green.

But the convenience that BYOD (Bring your own Device) for both doctors and patients can be one of the complications of mobile technology in healthcare. At first, it seemed a simple and convenient option for physicians and nurses to be able to take their personal phone to work, said Michael Lanciloti from Spectralink, a provider of wireless solutions for the workplace, But it quickly became evident that "huge work-arounds are needed to make consumer-grade devices suitable for the healthcare environment, whether with security technology, ruggedizing cases or consistent voice quality," Lanciloti says.

Security, of course, is another concern, as patient data on personal mobile devices is not secured, nor HIPAA compliant. And successful software solutions must work on multiple platforms, adds Jason Bornhorst, CEO of Filament Labs and co-founder of Patient IO, a care plan delivery platform for healthcare professionals.

Integration is also an issue, says Bornhorst – remote patient data must be integrated into a central dashboard to be useful. He suggests a solution that will unify multiple streams of hardware data on a per-patient or population basis.

The best approaches to wireless includes the following advice from healthcare experts:

  • "When deploying wireless devices, keep it simple. The most complicated setups require the most costly and most frequent IT visits and support." – Mark Hollis, CEO of MacPractice, practice management and clinical software for Mac.
  • "Develop BYOD management and security policies that 1) specify what devices are permitted to be used; 2) require users to password-protect their devices at all times; 3) mandate the use of a mobile device management solution—which protects and manages data; 4) clarify who owns what apps and data; and 5) specify the mitigations steps when a device is lost." – Rene Y. Quashie, Health Care and Life Sciences, Epstein, Becker, Green.
  • "Ensure that authentication support is in place to verify and monitor who is accessing what content, how often and when. This can also help to flag when a user is accessing content from locations, and at times, when they shouldn't have access to the content on their devices. Wireless technologies should also be encrypted to render lost or stolen devices useless until they can be completely wiped." –David Keane, CEO of bigtincan, mobile content enablement provider.
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