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Hoglund and Varga: Building a Reliable Wireless Medical Device Network

a global basis in many industries. As a result, both medi- SuITABILITy of WLAN foR PATIeNT
cal equipment manufacturers and healthcare institutions MoNIToRINg
are looking to leverage their nearly ubiquitous WLANs
overview
by utilizing them for network-enabled medical devices.
Any wireless network is dependent upon proper plan-
Clinical benefits of having a WLAN throughout the
healthcare institution ning, design, and implementation, taking into consideration
the internal and external variables that may impact the
The healthcare industry was an early adopter of WLANs network’s performance and reliability. Such internal and
because they enabled more timely and accurate bedside medical external factors include high availability (HA) network
statistics recording, voice-over-IP-over-Wi-Fi, asset location, infrastructure, radio frequency (RF) interference, Qual-
and guest Internet access – which benefitted clinicians, IT ity of Service (QoS) requirements, and cost budgets. In
and biomedical groups, as well as patients and their families.
terms of suitability of the WLAN for patient monitoring,
This new methodology of networked patient monitoring the healthcare institution must consider the requirements
has many clinical benefits. Specific to telemetry and patient of the specific applications that will run over the WLAN.
monitoring, an omnipresent WLAN can now enable the Any patient monitoring network has to be 100% reliable
following: around-the-clock, 365 days a year, while communicating

• Expansion of telemetry area coverage: The telem- alarms, events, and recordings in real time.
etry system can operate across the entire facility,
Suitability factors
and not be limited to specific care areas. The trend
is to increase telemetry usage across a common
The following factors influence the suitability of a
enterprise network, versus managing hundreds of
WLAN to support a patient monitoring system:
standalone monitors.
• Design of the WLAN: Over the last 15 years, WLAN
• Increased reliability: Patient monitoring can leverage
design has migrated from a simplistic paper-based
proven networking technology that is consistent in
approach to a very scientific methodology utiliz-
design and deployment. This networking infrastruc-
ing computer-based predictive modeling tools and
ture can provide true bi-directional communication
onsite RF spectrum analysis to identify the sources
for increased overall system reliability.
of any potential RF interference. This methodology
• Increased space utilization and patient safety: takes into account building materials, client device
Having all monitors networked through the WLAN density, Wireless Access Point (WAP) placement,
gives the hospital the flexibility to monitor patients antenna patterns, RF link speeds, and RF channel-
anywhere in the hospital. For example, if the Emer- ization/ power and then creates a predictive model
gency Department is at capacity, they can add extra with 98% to 100% accuracy of design. In addition,
monitored beds in another unit, thereby keeping a proper logical design must be created to define IP
the patient in the delivery network, versus having to addressing, VLANs, multicast, DHCP, QoS, and other
divert the patient to another facility because of the network-layer settings that affect WLAN quality and
lack of monitored beds. Having additional monitored reliability. When using these tools, the hospital can
beds also enables hospitals get patients out of higher have confidence that the network they install will
acuity, and higher cost, settings. need little to no modification after installation.

• Reduced risk of undetected events: For example, • Installation and troubleshooting: A well planned
if a prior cardiac patient comes in for an orthopedic and designed LAN and WLAN is the foundation for
procedure, the orthopedic nurse could easily have a well performing patient monitoring system. As
a cardiac trained nurse observe that patient using mentioned above, predictive WLAN modeling tools
WLAN monitoring while the patient is being treated ensure a design with over 98% accuracy before
for that orthopedic procedure. implementation. For the few instances where the

43 J Global Clinical Engineering Special Issue 1: 42-49; 2018