Hardwired communications and computing devices are no longer the preferred tools of the trade for doctors and nurses at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center (WFUBMC) in Winston-Salem, N.C. That is considering the academic health system has gone wireless.

The 1,300-bed facility-comprising North Carolina Baptist Hospital, Wake Forest University School of Medicine and Brenner Children’s Hospital-concluded that a campus-wide wireless network would give medical staff faster and easier access to patient records via its electronic medical records (EMR) system.

“We realized that our caregivers are highly mobile and need devices that match their behavior,” explains Chuck Ware, director of computer and communication services at the medical center. “They were losing continuity of patient care when they traveled amidst locations using cabled PCs and phones.”

For example, doctors and nurses consult and update patient charts continually as they roam among inpatient, outpatient, office and research lab facilities scattered all through 16 buildings. […]

Orginal post by dhiram