[Ernie the Attorney] QUOTE - I was at Ochsner hospital today (my teenage daughter was having a benign tumor removed, and everything turned out okay). When she was in the pre-op area I noticed the laptop in the room that was on a rolling cart. It was a Dell laptop with a Wi-Fi antenna and, though the power socket was plugged in, the cart was designed to move around from place to place (obviously after unplugging the power cord).
I asked one of the nurses about the wireless system. She told me that the mobile laptops have been used in the surgery area for about two years, and were now being used throughout the hospital. The wireless laptop has access to the Internet, but the laptop is configured with special software that the hospital uses (and other hospitals use as well) for immediate entry of patient information directly into a central database. This allows the hospital to have the patient's information updated on the computer system in real time.
I asked her what she thought about the system. She said that it had taken her awhile to get used to it. The hospital apparently only sent about four "power users" to be trained and then they trained everyone else. But now that the system was running she said it was very good and only had a few problems. She agreed that it was overall a good thing and would lead to better information about patients and less reliance on paper. But she complained that she still had paper forms to fill out and, in fact, had even more paper forms to fill out because of the new system. She said it this was bourne out of an obsession for "backup." I don't think she really knows what the real reason is, but I wouldn't be surprised if she was right. Hospital administrators live in dread fear of mishandling patient records, or at least of being accused of doing so.
But I digress from the more important point: wireless in hospitals.
I knew that Oschner had started to implement a wireless network because one of our firm's outside computer consultants used to work there and had told me about their initiative. I understand that it is a difficult proposition for a hospital to try something like this, and I'm glad to see that Ochsner is giving it a try. I don't know how they've got their system set up, but I will say this: I booted up my laptop in the patient waiting area (which is admitedly far away from the surgery area, i.e. +500 feet) and didn't pick up any signal. Obviously, in terms of network security, that's a good thing. UNQUOTE [Ernie the Attorney]
10:53:51 PM 
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