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Recently I read about a doctor who wanted an office that was both paperless and cordless. That is, he wanted all battery-powered devices and and wireless. In a practical sense, the office was to operate on laptops accessing a wireless network.

Meanwhile, as we scale up our own electronic medical records implementation, we'll be relying partially on wireless devices - slate computers which operate as thin clients and are connected to our network wirelessly. However, it's important to understand the limitations of a cordless practice.

First, understand that 'wireless' isn't truly wireless. Something must be plugged into something else somewhere along the line.

Secondly, with a wireless system there's an expense at every level. Let's have a glance at what's involved in establishing a wireless network at your practice, and what the estimated costs are:

Consultant: You'll need to go with a consultant with experience correctly setting up wireless networks. A badly-designed wireless network will only achieve a mediocre level of performance. We went with a Cisco-certified wireless network engineer; probably less than one hundred people hold these credentials worldwide. If you aren't able to locate someone like this, at least find someone who really specializes in wireless installation projects.

Survey: The consultant will be using expensive tools for performing Radio Frequency mapping throughout the entire building, determining the locations where antennae are required. Our consultant and his team spread antennae out on tall tripods for a couple of days - finally, we were given a building floor map with a Radio Frequency map overlay along with recommendations of where antenna should be placed and how many were needed.

Adequate Power Supply: If you'd like to use cordless computers, you will need long-lasting batteries and have plenty of extras on hand. Also, keep in mind that unless you have a special charging dock, normal laptop batteries can't be charged unless mounted in the laptop. A typical laptop battery provides about three hours of use, so plan your clinics accordingly.

Keep in mind that you should know what's in your walls. Was there lead in there from the last tenant, a radiologist? Metal girders in the ceiling can either boost the system by reflecting it, or degrade the overall signal. You should also know what else is located in your building. A wireless network operates across a spectrum which overlaps with commonly-used devices. Even cordless phones and microwave ovens can create interference and cause havoc on your devices' connections to the electronic medical records (EMR) system.

You must have a budget. One medical practice decided to use laptops in every exam room. Each was connected to an external 24 inch monitor, allowing both the doctor and patient to view a monitor. However, this option has a huge price tag; regular laptops are often the most inexpensive option.

So, what if you have a smaller practice and want to set up a wireless network on your own? Consumer wireless network devices which can be purchased at a retail store may work well for surfing the Internet or checking e-mail, but they might not be adequate for running an EMR system. There are a couple of reasons for this:

Firstly, if you must use more than one point of wireless access, there's a pretty good chance that there will be a conflict. Even just walking down the hallway may drop your session - you may have to login again, possibly after losing information.

Secondly, in general a consumer wireless access point operates at a fixed signal strength which if far higher than the usual laptop wireless card. That may sound quite good, but that means that a laptop may detect a signal which is stronger than it is able to return, causing a broken network connection.

No matter how you choose to incorporate wireless devices into your EMR plan, be sure that everyone involved in on-board with the plan. If there are affiliated partners helping to pay for the hardware, it can be a good idea to be as cost-aware as possible, always able to justify purchases. Don't go overboard on the latest gizmos, particularly is they don't really make the job of serving patients more efficient overall.

Source:ezinearticles.com