At 9:41 AM +0000 12/14/02, David j wrote: >Hello friends, I have to advice what kind of wireless device we are going to >buy for a hospital. If money was not a big problem what Aironet would you >buy? I thought about 1200 series, but it isn't approved for using 802.11a in >my country (only 802.11b) so I think it hasn't got many benefits over 1100 >series (these are cheaper). >What do you think? someone has implemented a wireless network in a big >hospital (1200 beds)? >Any feedback would be helpful, thanks in advance.
I'm going to answer generally with considerations about wireless in hospitals, rather than on the specific devices. First, there's a brief review of the US privacy regulations at http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/445787_print. You may need to register (it's free) for Medscape, which I use daily as a source of primarily pure medical information. Now, we probably haven't installed one in 12-18 months, and had bad interference problems with handheld devices that operated over a large area. Handhelds to a bed monitor, or even in a ward, tended to work reasonably well, but, as has been pointed out, there are LOTS of interfering devices. I am not aware of safety studies of wireless transmission in units where conductors go through the skin. Also remember that some instrument rooms will be electromagnetically shielded. During the process of installation, be sure to have plenty of Ethernet docking stations available that are compatible with handhelds. Our experience with PDAs is they are simply too limited for any serious medical application other than electronic reference books. We've tended to use handheld or tablet PCs, depending on display size and input requirements. For support reasons, we've tried to emphasize LINUX for these handhelds, if for no other reason that if they are running Windows, doctors (especially) will put games, stock quote, etc., applications on them, to the point that we don't know the software environment of the potentially life-critical devices we are trying to support. Message Posted at: http://www.groupstudy.com/form/read.php?f=7&i=59221&t=59216 -------------------------------------------------- FAQ, list archives, and subscription info: http://www.groupstudy.com/list/cisco.html Report misconduct and Nondisclosure violations to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
