Wireless Network Technology Application in Medical Industry

At present, many hospitals place computers in fixed locations in various departments or sections, or even in wards, and connect them through computer integrated wiring to form a hospital management system network. This fixed deployment of computers has limitations such as inconvenient terminal equipment movement and fixed information points, which restricts the hospital information management system from playing a greater role. How to use computer networks to more effectively improve the coordinated operation of managers, doctors, nurses, and related departments is an issue that hospitals need to consider at present. The application of wireless local area network (WLAN) technology in hospitals has completely broken this limitation with its terminal mobility, flexible and convenient access, etc., enabling hospitals to more effectively improve the work efficiency of managers, doctors and nurses, and coordinate the orderly work of relevant departments.

1. Wireless ward rounds service

During the ward rounds, doctors often need to retrieve the patient's medical records or medical history at any time, and give medical advice based on the patient's specific condition at any time. The deployment of wireless networks allows doctors to query patients' relevant information at any time through their portable computers or PDAs with wireless Internet access. It eliminates the trouble of medical staff carrying a large number of case records for ward rounds and helps them understand the patient's detailed information more accurately, timely and comprehensively, making doctors' ward rounds simple and easy, and patients can also receive timely and accurate diagnosis and treatment.

2. Wireless Internet access

Deploying wireless networks in hospitals not only facilitates wireless Internet access for patients and medical staff, but also provides Internet access for patients' families, visitors, etc. In addition, since hospitals cooperate with many suppliers, it is also necessary to provide Internet access and data services for the staff of these suppliers. The application of wireless technology can provide convenient Internet access services for all kinds of users, thereby improving the service satisfaction of hospitals.

3. Wireless positioning services

Due to the particularity of medical facilities and work, hospitals need to track the location of patients, medicines and medical waste. Determining the location of patients can ensure that patients can receive timely rescue and treatment in the event of sudden illness; drug tracking can make drug use and inventory management more standardized, prevent out-of-stock and facilitate drug recall; the purpose of locating medical waste is to clarify the responsibilities of hospitals and transportation companies, prevent illegal dumping of medical waste, and cause environmental pollution in hospitals. Wireless positioning provides fast and accurate services for these tasks. Patients with RFID (radio frequency identification) wristbands, medicine bottles with RFID tags and medical waste bags can all be tracked at any time through the wireless positioning function of the wireless network.

4. Voice over Wireless (VoWLAN)

Surveys show that, out of consideration for the health of patients, some hospitals restrict the use of mobile phones by blocking mobile network signals. By implementing WLAN-based voice services on the hospital network, doctors' needs for mobile voice calls can be met. As long as they are in the area covered by the wireless network, medical staff can make wireless calls at any time anywhere in the hospital with a WiFi mobile phone, turning the mobile phone into their own extension. H3C's wireless VoIP and WiFi voice solutions can integrate voice and data services, reducing high communication costs while not affecting the health of patients, and ensuring the security of voice and data services.

5. Wireless video service

Nowadays, many medical devices are equipped with WiFi function. Through 802.11n-based wireless AP, the transmission rate can reach more than 300Mbps. With the wheeled mobile workstation, the inspection results or data, including radiological images, can be transmitted anytime and anywhere. By installing wireless IP cameras for real-time monitoring, doctors or patients' families can always grasp the patient's treatment status in the intensive care unit (ICU ward), and the hospital's public security can be guaranteed in the parking lot and the periphery of the hospital.

Hospitals' concerns about wireless applications

1. Interference from wireless devices

The domestic medical industry has always been cautious about the use of WLAN. Although the mobility and ease of deployment of wireless networks are very helpful for hospital business development, hospitals are always concerned about whether wireless network equipment will cause radiation and interference to medical equipment and patients (especially patients with built-in pacemakers) when working.

2. Seamless mobility and security features for wireless devices

The mobility of communication terminals is very important for the medical industry. Medical staff are often on the move due to work requirements. Only by receiving calls and medical information from patients at any time anywhere in the hospital can the concept of "patient-centered" portable medical services be better realized. WLAN technology is the preferred technology to meet the needs of medical mobile communications, but whether medical staff will experience communication disconnection during the mobile process, the transmission stability of the wireless LAN, network security and other factors have become the focus of hospitals.

Hospital Wireless Technologies and Solutions

1. Safety of wireless radiation

The Radio Management Committee of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China stipulates that the RF transmission power of a single wireless access point device cannot exceed 100mW. The output power of general wireless network equipment is between 60mW and 100mW, the transmission power of mobile phones is about 200mW to 300mW, and the handheld walkie-talkie is as high as 5W. The use of wireless networks is not like direct contact with the human body like mobile phones. In the actual construction of wireless networks, according to the actual situation of special sites, while ensuring the signal strength, the output power can be appropriately reduced to reduce the radiation intensity to the minimum. Therefore, deploying wireless LANs in hospitals is safe for medical equipment or patients using pacemakers.

The University Hospital of Cologne in Germany conducted a study on pacemaker carriers who used ordinary mobile phones in the hospital. After repeated experiments, scientists found that when the mobile phone is kept more than 25 cm away from the pacemaker, the pacemaker function is basically not interfered with by the mobile phone; then lower-power wireless networks will not cause harm to the patient's health, nor will they affect the normal operation of the pacemaker.

H3C conducted an on-site test in Beijing Hospital to determine whether wireless signals would interfere with medical equipment. Two wireless APs and an EEG2100 digital ECG telemeter were used for the test. The distance between the wireless AP and the digital telemeter was kept between 20 and 50 cm. The EEG2100 wirelessly monitored two simulated ECG signals for 72 hours and automatically recorded the test results. The results showed that the WLAN wireless device had no effect on the digital ECG telemeter, which also shows that the wireless network signal did not interfere with the medical equipment.

As long as the wireless network equipment complies with international standards and the actual working power is within the safe transmission power range, it will not affect human health. In addition, experiments have shown that as long as the deployment environment is carefully measured before the wireless network is built, the placement of the wireless equipment is reasonably designed, and the appropriate transmission power is used, the wireless equipment will not affect the precision medical equipment in the hospital, and the electromagnetic interference of various instruments in the hospital will not affect the normal operation of the wireless equipment.

2. Fast mobility and seamless roaming of wireless terminals

The biggest feature of wireless networks is the mobility of access terminals, which is also a problem that hospitals are very concerned about. So how does wireless technology achieve the mobility of wireless terminal devices?

Wireless AP deployment methods are divided into FAT AP (fat AP) and FIT AP (thin AP). FIT AP has gradually become the mainstream deployment method due to its convenient configuration and easy management. In FIT AP, the configuration and management of all APs in the network are completed through the wireless controller, and there is no need to configure a single AP. In other words, the configuration information of all APs is stored on the wireless controller. Since wireless APs are deployed in a decentralized manner, if you need to configure a certain AP, you can operate the wireless controller in the central computer room, saving the trouble of configuring APs on site.

The deployment of FIT AP makes the terminals in the wireless network truly mobile. Take the example of a terminal device moving back and forth between two APs: the terminal device accesses the wireless network through a certain AP through correct encryption authentication. When it accesses the wireless network through another AP, since the configuration of the AP exists on the wireless controller, the terminal device's access encryption authentication information is also saved on the wireless controller, so it can access the network without re-authentication, realizing seamless roaming of the terminal. In other words, as long as it is within the coverage of the wireless signal, the continuity of data transmission can be guaranteed when the terminal device moves, and there will be no interruption. This feature fully meets the needs of various mobile services in the hospital, making the hospital business truly "mobile" in a humanized way.

3. Wireless network security

In addition to mobility, network information security and patient privacy are also crucial to the medical industry. In 1996, the United States enacted the HIPAA Act (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) to ensure the security and privacy of patient information. Subsequently, many countries have enacted similar regulations. Therefore, hospital network security is very important. WLAN security technology can provide hospitals with the highest level of security. At present, most hospitals choose to implement 802.11i-based authentication and encryption functions to enhance WLAN security. In order to maximize the security of wireless network applications, H3C has proposed two wireless security solutions: wireless intrusion detection and wireless EAD, based on the 802.11i standard encryption technology.

Wireless intrusion detection technology refers to the wireless network equipment enabling the monitoring function, monitoring the illegal wireless devices around at any time, and reporting to the wireless controller, refusing the illegal wireless devices to access the hospital wireless network, adding them to the blacklist, and launching message attacks on them when necessary until they cannot work. The use of wireless intrusion detection technology can completely prevent illegal wireless devices from maliciously accessing the hospital network to steal data, thereby ensuring the security of patient information.

The wireless EAD (Endpoint Access Defense) solution adopts a C/S or B/S security architecture. In addition to being required to verify user names, passwords and other information, hospital users with legitimate identities are also required to check whether the network access client (tablet computer, mobile computer) meets the hospital's network security policy requirements. Security policy requirements include whether antivirus software is installed, whether the virus database is upgraded, whether necessary system patches are installed, etc. For users who meet both identity authentication and security check requirements, EAD assigns them corresponding network access rights based on predefined policies to avoid unauthorized access by users. The wireless EAD solution ensures the access security of people and terminals accessing hospital resources. Only legitimate people using terminal devices that meet security policy requirements can access hospital resources, thereby preventing hospital patient information from being leaked and ensuring patient privacy.

4. Wireless network transmission rate

People who are new to wireless networks will question the transmission rate of wireless networks, and habitually believe that the bandwidth of wireless networks is much lower than that of wired networks. In fact, the transmission rate of wireless networks is not as low as imagined. According to the wireless standard protocol, the theoretical transmission rate of 802.11b is 11Mbps, and the theoretical transmission rate of 802.11a/g is 54Mbps. With the development of wireless technology, wireless products based on 802.11n were born. With the help of advanced MIMO/OMDF wireless coding technology, the theoretical transmission rate of 802.11n devices can reach 600Mbps, and the actual transmission rate can reach more than 100Mbps, ensuring the normal operation of high-bandwidth services. The hospital's wireless video services, such as intensive care, transmission of radiological images, etc., can all be achieved through wireless network technology.

5. Wireless network management and maintenance

Hospital networks have both wired network devices and wireless network devices. It is very troublesome for network managers to configure and manage wired and wireless devices separately. If wired and wireless devices can be organically combined and integrated into a whole, it will greatly reduce the difficulty of network configuration and management and improve the work efficiency of network managers.

In order to meet the needs of hospitals, mainstream network wireless manufacturers in the industry have proposed advanced solutions in combination with current advanced technologies. For example, H3C has proposed the "H3C wired and wireless integration solution." "Wired and wireless integration" means directly inserting the wireless controller card into the core switching device, without the need to add a separate wireless controller, so that wired and wireless devices are organically integrated to form a whole. This not only facilitates the administrator's configuration management of the network, but also greatly protects the hospital's investment. At the same time, H3C's iMC intelligent management platform can manage any person and device in the network, and realize unified management of wired and wireless devices and access users.