Just a few years ago most people couldn’t have imagined that we would have the ability to read our emails via mobile phones. Today, we can not only read our email, but can conduct most business while on the go. Mobile solutions have changed the way we communicate, work and live and no industry has been more impacted by mobile solutions than the healthcare industry.

Those in the healthcare industry now have the ability to access systems and information anywhere, in any place and at any time. It is now standard practice for medical equipment to arrive at hospitals with built-in Wi-Fi modules. Because of RFID embedded patient bracelets and ‘smart’ hospital beds, medical staff has the ability to know what patient is in what bed and in which room, how much a patient weighs, whether the guardrail is up or down and what IV is attached to the patient; all without ever leaving their desk.  

Enterprise mobility

The biggest impact that the transition to mobile solutions has had on the healthcare industry is that of improved efficiency, from both a patient care and a financial standpoint. Enterprise mobility solutions enable an important shift in how a typical healthcare organization functions. By placing tracking information in the hands of employees at the point of activity, medical institutions are empowered with better information about their operations, in real-time.  

When the prevailing technology in healthcare amounts to just a pager and pen, as it historically has been, there is a significant risk for patients due to the lack of real-time access between clinicians and genuine coordination of care.  With a paper-based information system, aggregating patient information is a time-consuming challenge. Disconnected and proprietary information systems often lead to high error rates as physicians have to wade through data from multiple sources to find what they need. The healthcare system has grappled with this challenge of compiling and sharing information in a meaningful way for years. 

The emergence of enterprise mobility solutions addresses this challenge by giving the healthcare industry real-time connectivity and the ability to streamline operations and improve productivity. By allowing employees to track inventory and assets in real-time, they are able to work with the most up-to-date information and make decisions based on that information, allowing for greater productivity, efficiency, and ultimately, revenues.

Unified communications system

Enterprise mobility allows for efficiency to occur in healthcare because it opens the door for unified communications systems, which provide a consistent user interface and user experience across multiple devices and media types. This access anywhere, in any place, at any time concept reduces communication response time, which is essential in the decision-making process.  Healthcare is an information science and until mobile solutions were in the picture, the pace of discovery far outstripped the healthcare system’s ability to share the new knowledge.

By utilizing a unified communications system, caregivers have the ability to truly work as part of a team with general practitioners, specialists, pharmacists and community care nurses—all able to rapidly coordinate care for the same patient. Given the diversity of patient-care teams, a unified communications system allows for the ability to share time-sensitive information in real-time, bridging the collaboration gap in the patient care process.

When knowledge is shared in real-time and geographical distances are bridged, the entire healthcare system benefits with greater efficiencies and improved outcomes.

What the future holds

We’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the possibilities for enterprise mobility solutions in the healthcare industry, as evidence from a recent study by InMedica that found the mobile healthcare industry has grown to an estimated $125 million. The race is on for companies to gain market share in this high-growth sector.  InfoLogix is one organization that realized the need to address these complex issues in the healthcare industry early on, and has helped over 1,500 hospitals to date. With a wide breadth of services, hospitals can benefit from patient tracking, mobile carts, RFID solutions, mobile technology for medication management and wireless networks, all from a single provider. 

Going forward, there is also a tremendous opportunity for companies focused on cloud computing to take advantage by gathering data inputs and providing visibility of change process and analytics that the healthcare industry has not seen before. This is particularly relevant for smaller hospitals and physician practices in particular, as cloud-based applications can be extremely cost-effective. Many don’t have the robust IT staff required to support new technologies and mobile solutions, and the cloud can potentially reduce the burden of having internal IT staff maintain and service in-house infrastructure, instead of focusing on other IT issues that impact the quality of care and business operations. Cloud-based applications will be one of the next frontiers to allow those in the healthcare industry to focus less on managing IT and more on delivering efficient care. 

The next generation of healthcare demands that information from health information systems be available at the precise location where it has maximum impact. Enterprise mobility solutions make this possible through integrated communication methods and unified communication systems that empower staff with the necessary tools. By putting the right information in the hands of those who can harness it, mobility can be the catalyst for revolutionizing the way hospitals serve their patients and run their business.